wandsworth borough council

Implementation of Asta Teamplan tightens resource controls at flagship London Borough

Managing multiple projects in real-time and efficient resource allocation have become a reality at the London Borough of Wandsworth, maximising productivity and fee income for its Design Services Department.

The Department has chosen to implement Asta Development’s enterprise-wide project and resource management solution, Asta Teamplan and the Asta Timesheet module. The Design Services Department is Wandsworth Borough Council's internal building consultancy. It provides design and consultancy services, manages the delivery of new build, as well as the renovation and maintenance of council premises and other public buildings.

The challenge
Prior to the implementation of Asta Teamplan, the Department was using a labour-intensive paper based process to manage projects. This meant that the distribution of resources across projects was being handled less effectively as the system did not always hold the most up to date status information, while the absence of a central database meant that it was harder to forecast resource requirements and allocate teams to new projects. Lastly, the absence of an overview resulted in reduced control over outgoing costs and incoming revenues.

For the first time, we will be able to accurately plan our resources and monitor progress.

Although the Department operates a weekly manual timesheet system, it was often the case that employees worked more hours than estimated. The lack of a consolidated project database and timesheet system meant that additional work was not always added in at the point of billing.

The Design Services Department functions on a business trading account basis in competition with private sector practices. As a result, a modern approach was required to automate the project and resource management processes as well as provide visibility over all work undertaken in relation to the resources available. This approach would enable the Department to plan more effectively.

John Cornish, Head of Design Services at Wandsworth Borough Council Design Services Department commented: "Following an extensive review of our processes, we discovered that improved scheduling of resources and management of financial accounting, coupled with advanced delivery of salient data had the potential to improve our economic viability. So we turned to Asta Development for the solution. "

The future
John Cornish added: "We are looking forward to the full implementation of the Asta system which will revolutionise the way we work. For the first time, we will be able to accurately plan our resources and monitor progress. In addition, the implementation of a central timesheet system which will be used by 50 staff, will help us to keep all project plans up to date to facilitate accurate forecasting thus avoiding under and over utilisation of resources."

We are looking forward to the full implementation of the system which will revolutionise the way we work

Using Asta Teamplan, the Department will also benefit from a simplified billing process, as these will be generated automatically at particular project milestones. In addition, high level business reports can also be produced at the touch of a button.

Michael McCullen, Asta Development's managing director commented: "In an environment where the control of resources is key to effectively managing internal and external costs, departments like the Design Services function need to work more efficiently in order to remain competitive. I am delighted that the Design Services Department at Wandsworth Borough Council has turned to us for our Asta Teamplan solution. We look forward to working with them and helping them to achieve their strategic objectives."

Asta Teamplan is installed on a dedicated server at the Wandsworth Borough Council offices. A controlled and phased introduction is underway to replace the existing systems and transfer all project data to the new software. This process will be complete by April 2003 when the Asta Teamplan will be fully operational.

About Wandsworth
Wandsworth is the largest of the inner London boroughs. It occupies an area of more than 13 square miles and has a growing population - currently some 260,000 residents.

It is a popular residential area with many different types of housing - from the leafy suburbs of Putney to the inner city housing estates of Battersea. Wandsworth residents pay the lowest council tax bills in the country and enjoy some of the best services.