{"id":7955,"date":"2024-01-12T11:05:22","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T11:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weareoakland.com\/?post_type=case_studies&p=7955"},"modified":"2025-03-28T11:03:19","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T11:03:19","slug":"business-intelligence-reporting-analytics","status":"publish","type":"case_studies","link":"https:\/\/weareoakland.com\/case-studies\/business-intelligence-reporting-analytics\/","title":{"rendered":"Business intelligence reporting and intelligent forecasting for Network Rail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In recent years, Network Rail has been impacted by significant organisational, digital and cultural change.\n<\/h2>
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Growing demands for greater efficiency and effectiveness have resulted in a need for more intelligent reporting and decision analytics, especially within Network Rail\u2019s Regional Capital Delivery teams.<\/p>\n

Adopting a devolution strategy required Network Rail to ensure that each region had the business intelligence and intelligent forecasting capabilities necessary to deliver major capital projects that gave outstanding value to the taxpayer whilst meeting stringent government guidelines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Working in partnership with the Devolved Regions, the Network Rail Centre of Excellence embarked on an ambitious initiative to equip the capital delivery teams with the next generation of data analytics capability.<\/p>\n

To deliver on this mission, Network Rail sought the experience of the Oakland Group to help craft a new approach to reporting and decision analytics, leveraging the very latest in data analytics technology and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

This case study charts the digital strategy and successful outcome that followed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Sweeping change creates an opportunity for improvement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Rail projects need to be delivered faster, at less cost and with greater value to the taxpayer than ever before.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government has challenged the rail industry to discover new ways of working to cut the time and cost of delivering critical infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This demand for greater efficiency and value within Network Rail is typified by Rail Project SPEED (Swift, Pragmatic and Efficient Enhancement Delivery.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cRail Project SPEED, forged alongside Network Rail, is a call to arms to cut unnecessary red tape, be bold and purposeful, and empower the railway to be radical in its thinking to halve the time and reduce the cost of delivering infrastructure projects.\u201d<\/p>\nChris Heaton-Harris, Rail Minister<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

SPEED is just one of many drivers for change across Network Rail.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A series of reports including: The Hendy Report, Nichols Review, and the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic have significantly impacted Network Rail\u2019s capital project delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a bid to \u2018put passengers first\u2019 and create a more customer-focused, service-driven organisation, Network Rail devolved the delivery of capital projects to the regional level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this presented several challenges for the existing capital projects reporting platform:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legacy obsolescence<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The existing business intelligence and forecasting technology used for Regional Capital Delivery reporting became dated and out of touch with the modern demands of complex engineering and infrastructure programs. Source systems were becoming impenetrable, and there was a danger that local workarounds would cause excessive complexity and confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Need for a unified data strategy<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Whilst each region had its own reporting needs, Network Rail still required coordinated governance of the data definitions, data structures and dictionaries across the group. Regions needed local autonomy but within the constraints of a common data strategy. Therefore, it was essential to empower the business with a single set of data, so everyone could do their own thing using a\u00a0common<\/em>\u00a0data set \u2013 a significant challenge for the earlier reporting infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delivery process upheavals<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Network Rail had transformed its process and standards for major engineering projects, transitioning from the earlier GRIP (Governance for Railway Investment Projects) process to the new PACE (Project Acceleration in a Controlled Environment) approach. This shift would require the legacy reporting system to support even more change it was ill-equipped to deliver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Transitioning to the next generation of Project Reporting Analytics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Network Rail faced a dilemma.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do they adapt the older technology to support the new devolved structure or take the opportunity to transition to a new solution that would meet current needs and deliver a platform for future growth and innovation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In particular, Network Rail was looking for an agile solution that would move faster to allow for the ambiguity around technology changes. They needed a flexible platform to have their changing needs addressed as the business became more advanced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the face of growing demand for change, Network Rail opted for the path of innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brought the Oakland Group to their attention.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Why Oakland?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Given our deep expertise across capital delivery and technology programs, the Oakland Group were selected to work with Network Rail to lay the foundation for reporting transformation within the capital delivery organisation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCentral to our replacement (of a larger consultancy) was our delivery mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oakland team was small and lean yet highly skilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had the experience of talking business (capital programs) and truly understanding what the delivery community wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But our team was also able to deliver change down to the deepest technical layers so that Network Rail could address all aspects of software, data, infrastructure and security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where most firms prefer to pitch for larger teams, with many handoffs and interfaces, we prefer leaner, more agile delivery teams that reduce the cost and complexity, ultimately delivering better, faster, higher-quality projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our highly specialised, all-encompassing skill set delivers the right approach for the type of technical and business transformation that is common within large enterprises such as Network Rail.\u201d<\/p>\nRichard Corderoy, Managing Director<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Predicting the future of self-service reporting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Oakland began by helping Network Rail reimagine what could be achieved with intelligent forecasting and reporting.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to a shift towards predictive analytics, it was clear the regional teams needed a faster and more flexible way of harnessing reports. The capital delivery teams didn\u2019t want to wait for technical teams to design new reports. The regions needed autonomy to craft reports that met local needs within a coordinated framework and centrally governed data strategy typical of a progressive data-driven enterprise.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Network Rail users had become frustrated that due to the restrictions of the previous Oracle BI reporting toolset, they could not customise and update their reporting needs quickly. Therefore, delivering self-service analytics was a crucial shift in Network Rail\u2019s culture and technical landscape, but one that Oakland was all too familiar with from previous implementations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge with building an entirely new reporting and analytics capability was that Network Rail needed to understand the art of the possible before committing to any final designs and solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As one team member described it: \u201cIt\u2019s hard to know what advanced analytics can deliver if you\u2019ve never seen it before!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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\u201cNetwork Rail had a legacy capital projects reporting capability. It was giving them insight into what had happened but without any foresight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capital delivery teams not only needed the \u2018so what\u2019 but the \u2018what next\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They needed a predictive capability.\u201d<\/p>\nMartin Pocock, Delivery Lead<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

To compound the challenge, Network Rail was structurally, operationally and technically, very much a \u2018moving target\u2019 in terms of varying demands on:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Structural<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The organisation had recently devolved control and now effectively operated as several distinct businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Operational<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

With a shift from GRIP to PACE (the delivery standards within Network Rail), major changes were expected in how the organisation delivered major capital programs from an operational standpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Against this backdrop of organisational change, Network Rail had also planned a roadmap of enterprise technology standards that were still evolving but would also have to be followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commercial<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Network Rail relies on a varied pool of transformation and delivery partners; part of the appeal of working with Oakland was our ability to map out the technical, commercial and process-related interfaces with each partner to ensure smooth delivery of the new data platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, Oakland has over three decades of experience working in these complex climates of layered change and technical innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Building quick wins through the \u2018Lighthouse Projects\u2019 concept<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was evident from the program\u2019s early days that a long, drawn-out \u2018waterfall\u2019 style program would be inefficient and unlikely to deliver. Events were dynamic within Network Rail, so Oakland adopted an agile and pragmatic approach to solution delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution was to prototype quickly, gain feedback, then refine and release to the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oakland Lighthouse Projects approach to digital transformation ideally suited the needs of Network Rail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because our team was small yet highly specialised, they could showcase concepts to the business, gather requirements, and then turn around an operational solution in a fraction of the time of traditional IT projects.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Rather than waiting months for a new feature or capability to ship, the Oakland team would engage the frontline capital projects teams to gain a deeper insight into the type of decisions and forecasting required, both at the regional and central levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the variety of stakeholder demands, we used a select number of user stories after requirements analysis to keep the scope of the project to a reasonable size while meeting most of the demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This insights discovery process helped the team to build precisely what was needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oakland understood the data and business operations intimately and routinely suggested new ideas and changes based on what they knew would help the business perform more effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As each release was \u2018shipped\u2019 and refined, engagement within the capital teams grew, which didn\u2019t go unnoticed with senior sponsors.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\u201cWe didn\u2019t walk in with a pre-built solution and impose it on the business. Instead, we made a conscious effort to integrate and work with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key difference is that we\u2019re not just tech-heads or management consultants. Our teams span across business, data and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Combining this type of team with the Lighthouse Projects approach meant we could deliver faster, in discrete stages, so the client got tangible value from each drop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This consistent effort to deliver value soon built a belief and confidence in what we were trying to achieve within Network Rail.\u201d<\/p>\nMartin Pocock, Delivery Lead<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n

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