Next month, our ComplyPro team is heading to Vancouver, for the finals of the prestigious Bentley Systems ‘Going Digital’ awards.
With our partner, Amey, we’ve been shortlisted for our work on the flagship rail programme, the Transport for Wales Core Valley Lines (CVL).
ComplyPro, our progressive assurance solution, has been deployed on CVL to help manage and assure the many thousands of requirements on the programme, which is transforming an ageing network into a contemporary, electrified, metro-style service.
Ahead of the finals, we talked to Cohesive’s ComplyPro Global Director, James Frampton:
How did ComplyPro come about?
Through our experience we knew the major headache of achieving assurance and compliance objectives on complex, large-scale transport projects.
These projects have typically featured large supply chains and numerous, often combative, independent contractors.
Costs can climb quickly if work has to be repeated, and large penalties can also be incurred when deadlines are missed.
When ComplyPro was founded, in 2005, the traditional means of recording compliance was in spreadsheets. This was time-consuming and error prone.
Besides, the complexity of today’s integrated rail systems means it has become almost impossible to manage all the assurance and compliance tasks using spreadsheet-based methods while still delivering the overall assurance case on time.
Compounding the problem, project teams often work on different systems and are geographically dispersed. These were the challenges we set out to solve – to ensure that major infrastructure projects stay on track, not just in terms of time and budget but also to specification.
We knew that the key is to track project requirements progressively and collaboratively through the design and build phases ensuring that compliance keeps pace with project delivery.
How does ComplyPro respond to these challenges?
ComplyPro aggregates the mass of compliance data from across projects to powerful management dashboards. It enables teams to collaborate around a single view of the evolving project specification, flags ‘hotspots’ and reduces risks by providing an unprecedented and progressive visibility of the true health and progress of a project. The impact of any change is immediately apparent and can be managed effectively.
By reducing delays, it delivers project savings of 3-6% of overall project costs – all realized within the lifecycle of the program.
One of your first big adopters was Crossrail – a big coup?
Yes, that was in 2006. It was a bit of a leap of faith for them as, at the time, we were a small business.
Crossrail had awarded numerous framework design contracts to consultants. To begin with these consultants used spreadsheets to create hazard logs but the scale and growing complexity of the programme and the challenge of maintaining an overview of so many project teams made Crossrail look for another solution.
One of ComplyPro’s first tasks was to capture and manage the specifications of the project sponsors, which included the Department for Transport, TfL and environmental bodies, to conform with the Crossrail Act 2008.
With ComplyPro on board Crossrail could keep tabs on progress much more easily. It reduced the risk of crucial information getting lost and it maintained a single ‘source of truth’.
And by purchasing licences according to the number of users needing access, Crossrail was able to scale the solution to meet its requirements.
Today you have a global presence?
Yes, our international growth kicked-off in 2012 when I relocated from the UK to Sydney to establish an Australian branch office. Demand was high – we signed-up new users including Laing O’Rourke and Aurecon, and new projects including the Sydney Metro and Adelaide Electrification.
We then introduced ComplyPro to targeted projects in South East Asia including Malaysia’s Klang Valley MRT Line 2 and LRT Line 3, and to the Middle East including the programmes of Etihad Rail and Qatar Rail.
2016 was a key year for ComplyPro?….
Yes, that was the year we were acquired by Bentley Systems. We had long regarded Bentley’s comprehensive approach to software provision for advancing infrastructure to be where the potential for progressive assurance could be most effectively realized and that turned out to be correct.
Today we are part of the Cohesive portfolio and the platform of choice for large transport projects and programmes globally. Some great examples would be the Danish national electrification and signalling programmes of Banedanmark, the Philippines Department of Transport’s project portfolio including the Manilla Metro, and of course the UK’s Transport for Wales Core Valley Lines.
Tell us more about the Core Valley Lines programme?
The Core Valley Lines (CVL) Transformation is a major project (approx. £1Bn GBP) in the Cardiff region of South Wales funded by the Welsh Government, the UK Government and the European Development Fund.
The project includes electrification, building of new track loops and increasing line speeds, e-locking and re-controlling the signalling system, upgrading existing and building new stations, and the introduction of new hybrid battery-electric trains.
ComplyPro is being deployed to enable a systems engineering approach to engineering assurance on the programme. It is used as the platform to package-up thousands of requirements, control change, and enable progressive verification and validation activity aligned to the project delivery structure and staging.
We implemented derogations management for the controlled tracking of deviations from standards and non-compliances to requirements. We also implemented a comprehensive hazard capture and management system (for both CDM and CSM) that made use of the requirements and V&V functions for the progressive assurance of the delivery of safety requirements to support safety justification and entry-into-service.
Finally, we implemented a technical interface management module to allow tracking of the closure of non-standard technical interfaces.
What benefits has it generated for the programme?
The benefits are multiple: Reduced risk, assured workflows, better decision making, reduced re-work and far enhanced governance and insight are among the key ones.
How did you feel when you heard it had been shortlisted for the Bentley Going Digital award?
Reaching these finals is a total honour. Our relationship with Nathan Sealy (Head of Systems Engineering at Amey) and the team has always been of a highly collaborative nature, and we have learned a lot in sharing their journey to date.
We are looking forward to hearing the stories of our fellow finalists too.
Has your career always centred on technology and innovation?
I’ve always worked in the software industry. My career started 25 years ago in the post-sales consulting and project management arena, moving into pre-sales consulting and management after 7 years or so. I’m ever grateful to the original founder and CEO of ComplyPro, Chris Rolison, for his support and mentorship over the years. Chris’s background prior to establishing ComplyPro was in delivering solutions for managing ‘engineering requirements’ across a number of rail companies, including the UK’s Transport for London and Network Rail.
What have been the most memorable milestones to date?
One came in my move to Dubai – ten years ago. I may be old-school in my views, but I put a very high value on face-to-face engagements and relationships. Dubai airports are among the best, and the location means I can pretty much reach any major city with a direct flight.
It was after the company supported my move to Dubai that ComplyPro’s international business grew substantially.
It also marked a big personal change. After a decade of being here it feels like home for my partner, two dogs, and I.
It triggered my current passion for scuba diving – I’m now a Master Scuba Diver and have amassed 14 PADI certifications over the years. One dive that particularly stands out is where I was surrounded by around 30 manta rays off the Indonesian Komodo island.
During the hottest months here I’m also thankful for my other life-long hobby – philately (stamp collecting).
What’s next for ComplyPro? What ambitions do you have for it?
We intend to continually drive ComplyPro value into our existing global relationships, as well as leverage the lessons learned along the way. These lessons will provide additional value to new project and client relationships.
I see a future where assurance data becomes ever more entwined with digital twins and we are continually working on new ways to deliver this as a further value enabler. We are also experimenting with the use of embedded AI services to compliment human assurance factors.
We also plan to further drive ComplyPro progressive assurance into the large infrastructure projects of allied sectors; for example aviation, energy and utilities where the same issues apply. We have already delivered engineering assurance for the Carnegie Wave Energy project in Perth, and the Muscat and Salalah airport builds in Oman.
The Bentley Systems Going Digital awards are part of its Year In Infrastructure 2024 event. You can watch the Vancouver YII sessions live, online, on Oct 9. Details and registration here.
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