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Debut Services (South West) Ltd is the Prime Contractor for the Regional Prime Contract South West, the second of five regional contracts to be let under the MoD’s Prime Contracting initiative and covers estate management services for almost 200 sites and encompasses some 9000 assets in the South West region. After putting IFS Applications™ for Service Management into place, it is clear that Debut has established a good customer relationship based on total project visibility. Prime Contractor
In the spring of 2004, Debut Services (South West) Ltd was awarded the Regional Prime Contract South West RPC SW) by the Ministry of Defence property management arm, Defence Estates. The seven-year contract (with an option for Defence Estates to extend to 10 years) includes the provision of facilities management services across a broad property portfolio including airfields and training establishments and a framework arrangement for the provision of design and construction of new projects across the estate.
Tough Challenges
Debut has responsibility to deliver and meet client requirements within agreed timescales, which includes coordination and active management of the supply chain to ensure that targets are met and efficiency improved.
Need for Project Visibility
Under the terms of the contract, service delivery is against an output specification with a performance management system linked to financial penalties and rewards. In other words, Debut must be able to manage this large, diverse contract in a very organized and efficient way. It was therefore crucial to implement an efficient IT solution that could support the organization in delivering effective results. Debut’s Business Application Support Manager, Brendan Viggers commented “the contract involves many locations, people and processes and stretches over a seven-year period, which means that Debut faces numerous challenges in terms of project management and delivery. It was therefore imperative to provide a solution that gave ourselves and our customers total project status and cost visibility.”
Consolidation of All Information into One System
Debut implemented IFS Applications for Service Management to efficiently manage the contract. IFS is a complete solution designed to help service organizations with processes such as all management, service order handling, reactive and preventive maintenance, contract management, resource planning, logistics, and service analysis. IFS Applications consolidates all project information into one comprehensive system providing the 800 Debut project users with total visibility. “IFS Applications has linked the Delivery Sites together, so that all project members and the customer can check how the project is going at any time. Due to the open and componentbased architecture, Debut has not had to deploy any major modifications to the application,” adds Brendan Viggers.
Prioritization between Service Tasks
In addition to adding project visibility, the system helps Debut to prioritize between tasks. When a reactive maintenance issue is identified, for example if there is a water leakage in one of the buildings, it is reported to the Technical Services Centre. The activity is given a response category code depending on the priority of the task and the importance of the facility, which enables the supply chain to deal with the higher priority tasks first.
Project Visibility Contributes to Customer Satisfaction
For any eventuality across the contract, Debut now has a system that allows for quick registration and service delivery. “Total project visibility provides Debut and the customer with the complete assurance that we are able to deliver on time and contributes to a high level of customer satisfaction,” confirms Brendan Viggers.
Better Purchasing Power
Although Debut insists that visibility and service quality assurance are the main advantages, one of the most tangible results of the implementation has been with the purchasing process. “Now, we are able to purchase on a regional rather than local level and in addition, the Prime Contract allows us to plan ahead, ensuring large bulk purchase savings,” Brendan Viggers says.
Handheld Plans
Despite a tremendous amount of progress in a very short period of time with IFS Applications, Debut has further plans to introduce handheld devices for its IFS solution. Through a restricted and secure GPRS network, engineers and maintenance staff will be able to access real time data. Reactive tasks will be accurately tracked, response levels will improve, and the service Debut delivers to the customer enhanced.
About Debut Services
U.K.-based Debut Services (South West) Limited is a joint venture between Babcock International Group and Bovis Lend Lease Limited, which was formed to deliver “world-class” one-stop shop property solutions. Debut benefits from Babcock’s recognised proven track record as one of the UK’s largest providers of property management services and the established global strength of Bovis Lend Lease Ltd, one of the world's leading companies in the project management and construction services industry.
Benefits of IFS
- Enhanced project visibility
- Improved customer satisfaction capabilities
- Quick registration and service delivery
- All information consolidated in one system
- No major system modifications required
- More economical bulk purchasing
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