Designing a single point of truth to improve a vital government service

Find out how cxpartners, Kainos and Clarasys used user-centricity to create a centralised, efficient and modern government-to-business service which has processed over 3 million permit applications since launch.

A bit of background

There are around 2.5 million street and road works carried out each year that have an estimated annual economic impact of £4 billion. Growing demand for utility infrastructure as well as road use meant that there is a strong strategic need to reduce the impact of street and road works on congestion and improve people’s journeys. With the goal to transform roadworks and transport for the better, the Department for Transport made an investment of around £10 million in a digital planning service to replace the costly and ineffective systems and provide more consistent, accurate data on street works available to motorists.

Roadworks can often be frustrating for motorists, especially when they cause hold-ups at busy times and delay journeys. We want to reduce this disruption and delay, and Street Manager is just one of a number of actions we are taking so that local authorities and utility companies can better plan and manage their roadworks.
Former Roads Minister Jesse Norman

What DfT wanted to achieve with the service

The service needed to cater to the needs of different users from over 153 local highways authorities, over 250 utility companies and countless contractors in England. The service had to identify ways of communicating road works information between these groups who often have very different ways of working and using separate systems.

The service also needed to be a single source of truth, containing accurate and up-to-date road works data which would enable and better support forward planning, collaboration, and network management. Access to data based on roles and organisations also needed to be considered to ensure compliance with legislation. Lastly, the service also had to comply with GDS guidelines on accessibility and user experience.

What the team did

cxpartners provided user research and design expertise to our partners and, together with the Department for Transport, built an online service that transforms the way street and road works are managed. Being involved throughout the design and development of such a large complex project, we ensured that the user was embedded in all the key product decisions.

What was achieved

The Street Manager service was successfully launched in July 2020 with 750,000 permit applications processed in the first three months of operation.

Additional outcomes:

Replaced an out-of-date and ineffective system: Currently in use by local authorities and utility companies, allowing them to accurately record and share data better on the 2.5 million roadworks that take place in England each year. It will support them to collaborate on joint works and better coordinate timings reducing the impact and cost of roadworks on the road users.

Created a modern, easily extensible solution: Enables accelerated change in response to user needs and future legislation and reduces costs for organisations who previously used costly 3rd party services.

Centralised data: All street and road works data is now stored in one place and is accurate, consistent, up-to-date, transparent and accessible allowing for greater collaboration between utility companies and helping inform policy development.

GDS compliant with successful service assessments: The Street Manager service was designed from the ground up with the GDS design principles in mind ensuring that it worked as a Government service is expected to. Not only were common GOV.UK components and patterns used throughout the service, but the service also contributed new patterns and components by defining a standardised user journey for uploading files.

The data opened up by this new digital service should enable motorists to plan their journeys better, so they can avoid works and get to their destinations more easily.
Former Roads Minister Jesse Norman

Find out more

If you'd like to chat about how we can help you, email amanda.payne@cxpartners.co.uk

Or read more about how we help our clients in public services.