Now we're talking

When Kier's head of information technology John Stacey surveyed the company's computer systems two years ago, he discovered that a staggering 340 software packages were in use. Confusion reigned. "Estimators were installing their own software, buyers were developing bespoke software and too many people were relying on spreadsheets," he says.

Kier took drastic action. It decided to scrap all its existing hardware and software, and invest £2m in a new system where all the company's desktop PCs would be linked to a large mainframe computer at the company's headquarters in Sandy, Bedfordshire.

Called Project Knight (after Kier's new information gathering technology), the idea is to set up a system that provides procurement, site systems, accounting, payroll and marketing packages that are shared by all Kier's offices and sites across the UK. Or at least that is the theory. Kier is about half-way through the project and is aiming to complete it in December 1999.

The benefits are substantial but difficult to put a figure on, claims group finance controller Ian Woods. "Centralisation brings together knowledge, and knowledge is power," says Woods. "For instance, we don't really know how much we spend with a specific subcontractor, but with the centralised system, we will know. And that puts us in a better position to negotiate contracts."

For Kier's marketing managers, sharing a database means they can keep an eye on the spending habits of clients. It also means they increase efficiency by cutting duplication, so that only one letter goes out to each client and calls are not repeated.

Contracts will become easier to manage, says Woods. "We have already saved time by eliminating some internal procedures." With the new system, he claims, people do not need to cross-check facts and calculations because the system does that automatically, then distributes information to the right people.

Woods is also exploring new uses for the system: "We want to check with the Health and Safety Executive whether we can throw out huge filing cabinets of method statements from site huts and hold the information on the central computer."

Woods reports directly to the finance director, so he is keen to ensure that the system improves cash-flow forecasting and makes gathering figures for results and final accounts easier.

streamlining helps the IT team

For Stacey, a great benefit is that the system has only six packages. Previously, the 10 staff in his IT department struggled to answer queries because they could not be experts in the 340 software systems in use. And because the hardware is all new, and therefore millennium bug-proof, Stacey and his IT colleagues can party without a care on new year's eve.

The centralisation of the IT set-up has been a long and sometimes tortuous process for Kier. Stacey began a review of the old system in 1997. Meanwhile, marketing, estimating, procurement, commercial and financial working groups were set up to look at what a new system should deliver. In total, 75 people participated and each group produced a wishlist.

From the lists, Stacey – who was then a consultant – produced a 16-point specification for a single centrally run computing system. The key demands were that the system should be proven, expandable, year 2000-compliant and euro-compatible.

Four bidders were invited to tender – Unisys, Mentor, Lamex, and Computer Systems for Business. The last was eventually chosen for its COINS software package. Stacey says: "We chose Computer Systems because the company is run by construction people entirely for construction people." Computer Systems had provided COINS for Bovis, Higgs & Hill and Taylor Woodrow, but what Kier wanted was twice as complex as the systems used by other contractors.

hardware that runs the network

To run the system, Kier has scrapped nearly all its hardware. Eight IBM AS400s, which were running networks for each regional office, have gone. The company's national network is now run by two DataGeneral machines at Sandy – one is live and the other is a back-up.

Kier scrapped all its desktop PCs and replaced them with 1500 state-of-the-art Dell PCs, costing £1000 each. And it replaced its laptops with 250 new ones, also from Dell, at £1500 a piece. "We went for a well-known and more expensive brand because they last for, say, five years rather than three years," says Stacey.

The outlay on hardware represents about 40% of the £2m investment. The rest of the money has been spent on software and its installation (30%), training (20%) and buying BT Frame Relay (10%), a network that allows data to be transferred between offices. Working on existing cabling, Frame Relay is a "virtual" circuit that allows data to be transferred quickly between any of Kier's offices. Under the terms of the contract, BT also installs links to Kier's site offices.