Royal Mail PFS Gives Scheduling Software Its Stamp Of Approval

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04 May 2018

Royal Mail Property & Facilities Solutions is working with Fast Lean Smart to implement a new scheduling software system to increase productivity and establish a site ownership model.

Royal Mail Property & Facilities Solutions (RMPFS) provides facilities management services to 2,600 Royal Mail sites across the UK and wanted to upgrade its current scheduling and route planning software to achieve better levels of efficiency and productivity from its service operations. The company’s existing system is over 10 years old and no longer meets their needs.

“We looked at several scheduling and route planning systems providers, Fast Lean Smart being one of them,” Scott Maddocks, project manager for RMPFS, told ThisWeekinFM. “After the initial demonstration, we carried out a number of FLS customer site visits to see the software in action. We engaged our management teams, our engineers and our unions because we wanted them all to be happy that the software would work.

“We chose FLS for a number of reasons. The user front end was better than the other products we looked at and we were confident the software could be integrated with our existing service management system.”

Optimised routes

One of RMPFS’ goals was to plan jobs more efficiently. FLS’ ability to plan optimised routes in real time will help it do this as it takes into account specific business priorities, traffic-based driving times and other variables for both planned and reactive work. RMPFS also wants to reduce the number of return visits its engineers have to do. A portal will be established where they can see four weeks of planned work in advance and allocate the necessary resources to each job. Engineers will be able to request job assists and equipment hire in advance of the job using the new portal.

Site ownership

Another key requirement for RMPFS was the establishment of a site ownership model, i.e., the allocation of tasks to preferred engineers according to a set of criteria to ensure that the right skills are in the right place at the right time. “We wanted software that could navigate several tiers of engineer choices, to allow them to build their site knowledge and relationships and reduce their travel time,” said Maddocks. “The system enables our engineers to work at preferred sites in preferred regions based on an extensive and complex series of rules.”

Picture: Royal Mail Property & Facilities Solutions is working with Fast Lean Smart to implement a new scheduling software system.

Article written by Robin Snow | Published 04 May 2018

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