News

Context

• Glanville Environmental is a civil engineering and drainage company specialising in a range of services including civil engineering for drainage and sewer works, sewer rehabilitation, manhole construction, and drain and sewer installations and repairs.
• Established in 1983 the family-run business is based in the South West and operates on a national level, mainly focusing on Devon, Cornwall and Somerset.
• Glanville has amassed a team of 200 industry professionals spread across 6 depots throughout the South West. Their large and skilled workforce enables them to undertake works of all scopes – from large civil engineering projects involving laying kilometres of pipeline to smaller domestic projects such as blocked drains and septic tank cleansing.

Challenge

Like many businesses in the industry, Glanville Environmental operated on tried-and-true paperwork systems, spreadsheets and manual processes. While it certainly gets the job done, the operations team knew it was far from perfect. There was potential for more efficiency, profitability and growth. The next logical step was clear – field management software. It was just a matter of finding the right one.

Aside from the desire to cut down on paperwork, Glanville wanted to increase the speed, accuracy and quality of information going to and from sites. Rather than relying on lengthy, manual form completion and stacks of paper job packs, the team wanted expedited processes that would put their time to better use. This went twofold for remote sites. Operating over a wide geographical spread, it was crucial to get the entire business onto a single platform and enable all teams and depots to draw information from the same, consolidated database.

Rather than implementing a suite of disparate solutions specialised for each operational process, Glanville needed a solution that would bring all processes under one umbrella, while being powerful enough to perform each individual function as required. Much of the software they viewed proved too ‘locked down’ and rigid for their needs. They wanted a field management solution that allowed them to be adaptable and reactive, while still enabling staff to narrow down on specific information and processes. This was one of many concerns that came when considering implementation. Overturning an established system would be met with inevitable scepticism, so the software would need to be as intuitive and reliable as possible.

Solution

With an emphasis on user-friendly design, local support and the ability to tweak the software, Glanville knew the answer was Re-flow’s field management software for civil engineering.

Re-flow’s field management software naturally eliminates all paperwork through fully digitising all major operational processes. Jobs can be created through the desktop dashboard and fleshed out with PDF information from the software’s database. Once ready, all relevant information is instantly communicated to any operatives assigned to tasks under said job. This goes for all processes – scheduling, asset management, reporting, invoicing and more. Instant communication and centralised record keeping eliminates all the little inconveniences that come with paper, greatly expediting previously tedious processes.

In terms of accuracy, technology offers an unrivalled level of precision. Digital forms can be custom-built to regulatory standards or chosen from a catalogue. Once a job commences, all relevant forms will be available to complete through the mobile app. Strictly enforced fields and workflows make the operative’s job easier while feeding accurate, quality data back to the office in real-time. In addition to information being submitted by app users, Re-flow’s forms go a step further. Every form is loaded with a unique digital signature, along with date, time and location stamping. Operatives can even attach photographic evidence to forms when required, offering admin staff a detailed overview of works on site.

Digital transformation is a big undertaking. That’s why Re-flow was purposefully developed with user feedback as a guiding principle. The software is fully scalable, growing alongside your business, and despite being off-the-shelf, it can still be tweaked. From minor aspects such as branding, language and colours to a fully fleshed-out form builder that enables users to build specific forms of any scale. With a highly acclaimed support team only a phone call away, clients won’t be left out in the dark. Be that during onboarding, implementation and beyond.

Outcome

Following successful implementation, Glanville has been able to tackle many of the challenges they faced prior to using Re-flow. Naturally, paperwork has been almost eliminated from the business. On site, this has had a big effect on form completion and productivity. Digital forms make recording near misses, hazard spots and positive interventions much easier than their paper counterpart, enabling operatives to do more with the time they’ve saved. Complex forms which would have been unfeasible in the past, such as dynamic risk assessments, have now been easily implemented. What would have previously been a ticking exercise can now yield more insights for the office, and greater safety for the site.