Case Study - NSL

Overview

The provision of parking and traffic management services in the historic City of Oxford is unlike any other contract of its type, due to the broad range of services required by Oxfordshire County Council. 

The Council had been responsible for the provision of these services through another contractor since 1997 and, following a rigorous tendering exercise, the contract to operate these services was awarded to NSL in July 2008.

The Oxfordshire County Council contract incorporates the following services:

• Management of 2 Park & Ride Sites
• CCTV Bus Lane Enforcement
• On Street Parking Enforcement
• Pay & Display Machine Maintenance
• Cash Collection
• Notice Processing
• Provision of the IT System
• City Centre Access Barrier Control

The Challenge

Awarding of the contract allowed for a three month lead in time. Due to the diverse nature of the services required the implementation was both complex and heavily IT dependant, with the removal of the existing IT system.

In addition to setting up the new operation, the implementation team were faced with the challenge of refurbishing 3 buildings, building new offices and rest rooms, and a control room.

Furthermore NSL had to manage the TUPE transfer of 55 staff from the outgoing contractor within this same 3 month period. In addition to the 55 members of staff transferred to NSL, further recruitment was required to fill new roles and restore staffing levels to a full time equivalent of seventy four.

Challenging KPI milestones for the implementation of the contract were set by the Council to ensure that every aspect of the service was delivered in full and on time for the go live date.

These KPI milestones included:-

I.T. System: The I.T. System had to be available in its entirety for acceptance testing one month before the Commencement Date and to have passed all of the acceptance tests before the Commencement date. This would mean that NSL would have to have all IT systems in place within 2 months.

Documentation: All pre-printed enforcement documents had to be provided by NSL and available for use one week before the Commencement Date.

Pay & Display Tickets: P&D collateral had to be to be provided one week before the commencement Date.
Civil Enforcement Officers: The full complement of CEOs had to be on patrol at all times no later than one week after the Commencement Date, with all beats and visit frequencies being completed.

The Solution

The implementation was managed, as with any NSL contract implementation, by an experienced project manager. David Sinclair, an NSL Regional Manager who had previously successfully completed the Northamptonshire and Gloucester contract implementations, was chosen to lead this project.  Also involved were 2 IT Project Managers, a Property Manager, Fleet Manager, Legal Counsel, Training Manager, HR Manager and the NSL Communications Team.

As part of the implementation a new IT system was introduced.  Supplied by Spur Information Systems, this was installed into the new Notice Processing Centre, Operational Base, CCTV Enforcement Office, Council Offices and Parking Shop.  Further to the standard users, a remote home working user was also set up to allow a member of staff to work on the system from her home some 200 miles from the Council offices.

Our processing project team worked closely with the client to migrate all information over to new system. To ensure a smooth transition one member of the project team worked within the council operation one day per week. This person monitored the new system as it was implemented whilst we managed the existing system, thus ensuring that the two systems maintained accurate information. To ensure that nothing was omitted Oxfordshire County Council retained the services of Civica, the existing supplier, at the council offices till the end of September 2009 to ensure all relevant information relating to outstanding PCN's from the Civica system which could not be migrated were dealt with in a consistent manner.

All new and TUPE staff underwent customer service and conflict resolution training, as well as a full company induction and handheld technical training, prior to their joining NSL. This involved approximately 1000 hours of training during the implementation period. A new uniform was designed and commissioned during the implementation giving the staff a smart and modern new look, whilst both making them more visible to the public and providing better protection from the elements.

The key to the success of the implementation was the close working relationship with Oxfordshire County Council and their consultants. Having detailed plans that use our experience from other implementations, and making contingencies for the unexpected were also very important factors.

 Regular implementation meetings were held with attendance from key decision makers from within both organisations. 

A genuine partnership and trust developed and this continues today.

The Result

NSL achieved every one of these KPIs and a full service went live on 1st October 2008.  The launch was supported by the NSL Communications Team, who worked with the council press team to create positive media statements to the local media, ensuring the new service received great local coverage.

And having contingency plans, legal counsel and a property manager on the project team proved invaluable when one of the original properties fell through with just six weeks before commencement.  NSL sourced an alternative property, got the deal signed off and the buildings refurbished ready for commencement. 

While the implementation was detailed and complicated, with a mountain of things to do before commencement, the NSL team have not rested on their laurels. Post go live work has continued with a number of enhancements to the contract in 2009 including the expansion of the CCTV operation and a formal Partnership Agreement with Thames Valley Police to encourage closer working relations, joint patrols and blue badge fraud prevention.

Training and development has been formalised with all new CEOs undertaking a City & Guilds qualification.

As part of NSL policy of internally promoting staff the Oxford team have developed and promoted , since commencement, two new people to On street Supervisor and Senior,  and two new CCTV Seniors.

And Oxfordshire County Council and NSL have continued to hold Park Mark safe parking accreditation at both of Oxford's Park & Ride sites managed by NSL.

Next Steps

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