Ctrl Hub are adding real value to Northern Gas Networks in supporting their drive towards industry best practice, productivity improvement and cost reduction.
Northern Gas Network (NGN) have been using Ctrl Hub as their operational management platform since January 2017.  The implementation of the digital cloud-based system has transformed several key business areas for NGN including:

• Health and safety compliance
• Governance of supply chain risk
• Operational efficiency
• Business risk reduction
• Regulatory reporting

NGN operate the gas transmission assets for 2.7 million homes and businesses across the North East, Northern Cumbria and much of Yorkshire.  To support their standing as industry leaders in network performance and customer service they are focused on driving forward innovation, efficiency and best practice in the industry.  With an aging network and ever-increasing pressures to deliver improvements in performance for less cost to the consumer, NGN identified that continuing to operate in the traditional fashion was not sustainable.  There was a clear need for change.  This is where Ctrl Hub came in.
With a diverse supply chain, operating across multiple locations and usually working in close proximity to the public, it was both difficult and essential that risk was managed at all times.  Ctrl Hub provided the opportunity to achieve this.

A Centralised and Secure Management Platform
Created as a joint venture between a construction company and a utilities company Ctrl Hub is designed to securely and efficiently store and share critical operational information.  Traditionally a mixture of paper records, or siloed electronic systems and spreadsheets held much of the key information such as qualifications, certifications, drawings, personnel or fleet records.  There had been little change in how the industry had operated, from an on-site operations perspective, for around 40 years.
By combining competency and training records, fleet and plant maintenance schedules, project drawings, forms and permits onto one electronic platform, Ctrl Hub enables strong governance and visibility over operations and supply chain, accessible via any internet enabled device.
The Ctrl Hub system was customised to fit around the specific operational requirements of NGN.  A joint working group was put together comprising of Ctrl Hub developers and a cross-department team from NGN to work together on the development, roll-out and training aspects.  Ctrl Hub now enables NGN to have, via dashboards and early warning notifications, instant verification that their people, plant, vehicles and equipment are compliant and operating safely.  NGN have over 1,000 direct and indirect staff on the Ctrl Hub system and entries for over 4,000 equipment, vehicles and plant.
“Because of the secure tiered access system, our area managers have live access to the status of every job within their area of responsibility.  Every morning they can view the entire workforce within a map view, and the RAG traffic light coding provides an instant visual check of compliance.  We can literally view, at the click of a mouse or touch of a screen, every single worker operating in our supply chain, to verify that they are qualified, competent and compliant.  The same applies to vehicles, plant and equipment.” Sam Mannion, NGN Business Support Manager.
By providing accurate live data across the supply chain, Ctrl Hub has revolutionised the way NGN manages its business and supply chain risk. Now stakeholders at various levels within multiple organisations are given real time assurance in an efficient manner.
Driving Operational Efficiency and Cost Reduction
But Ctrl Hub hosts more than training, calibration and competency documents.  It also drives operational efficiency and best practice for NGN by providing total operational management.  Using digital forms and best practice processes, Ctrl Hub guides site teams through a variety of workflows, driving compliance at all levels.  Costs are reduced as Ctrl Hub helps significantly reduce the amount of time spent on non-revenue generating tasks such as monitoring, updating and maintaining spreadsheets and downloading, printing and filing paper-based forms.
At each stage of a project stakeholders can check in on the project status.  Site teams are prompted to record progress by taking photos and videos of key elements.  For example, taking images to supplement a site risk assessment, recording how tidy a site is left at the end of the working day, or confirm that components have been tested before they are installed onto live plant.
Electronic forms are completed, stored and are available to be viewed immediately.  They can be accessed instantly in the future, in the event of an incident or claim, searchable by reference to a worker, or a specific job.  This results in huge risk reduction, as well as a reduction in administrative time in storage and accessing of paper forms.  Electronic job packs provide instant access to all the plans, forms and reference materials that operatives need on site to be able to carry out their work.
Due to its modular design and the support provided by the Ctrl Hub implementation team, new functionality has been added to enhance the systems offering even further.  Ctrl Hub is much more than an IT product.  The Ctrl Hub team act as consultants, working with NGN to continually identify and implement business improvement processes.
Looking Forward
As a result of the success during the first year of operation, NGN have renewed their agreement with Ctrl Hub, making it mandatory for all their supply chain partners.  The ongoing relationship gives peace of mind that all sub-contractors have requisite licences and insurances, that all operatives are properly trained and qualified, and that all forms and processes are completed, submitted, approved and stored in a central and secure system.
Ctrl Hub have been working with NGN throughout on developing and enhancing the system further, and is proud to work with clients providing a solution that fits the business – rather than the common situation where a business purchases software and finds that it must then fit around that system.
If you would like to know about Ctrl Hub and how the team can work with your business to drive transformation, improve compliance and reduce risk please get in touch via the details below:
Mark Baty
Business Development Manager
M: 07725348686
E: mark.baty@ctrl-hub.com
W: www.ctrl-hub.com