The Challenge
CityFibre’s Street Works team faced several key challenges that required an upgrade to their existing system:
- Scale and Complexity: As their fibre rollout expanded rapidly, CityFibre needed a more scalable solution to handle a growing volume of permits, transactions, and contractors.
- Limited Reporting Capabilities: Although Insight was a reliable platform, it lacked the advanced reporting features and visibility that CityFibre needed to manage the performance of multiple contractors and build partners.
- Operational Efficiency: CityFibre wanted to streamline processes and reduce administrative overhead, particularly in permit management and compliance.
- Future-Proofing: With their continued expansion, CityFibre needed a solution that could easily scale, integrate with new technologies, and offer long-term flexibility.
Karen Paterson, National Street Works Manager at CityFibre, explained:
“While Insight was a good system, our requirements were evolving as we continued to scale our build. We needed more advanced reporting tools, better visibility, and a solution that would support our long-term growth and future requirements.”
Karen Paterson, National Street Works Manager, CityFibreThe Solution: Symology’s Aurora
With their developing needs in mind, CityFibre began evaluating the upgrade options for their street works management solution. While several alternatives were considered, Symology’s Aurora emerged as the solution that best met their needs. The key factors that drove CityFibre’s decision to upgrade to Aurora included:
- Enhanced Reporting: Aurora offered robust dashboard and reporting capabilities, allowing CityFibre to track key metrics, manage costs, and monitor performance in real-time. The ability to drill down into detailed data was critical for CityFibre’s growing team.
- User-Friendliness: With over 200 users across multiple build partners and contractors, CityFibre required a system that was easy to use and minimised the learning curve. Aurora’s intuitive, web-based interface was a perfect fit.
- Scalability and Flexibility: Aurora, as a cloud-based solution, could scale quickly and support new geographical regions, contractors, and users as CityFibre expanded its fibre network.
- Seamless Integration: Since CityFibre was already using Symology Insight, the transition to Aurora was straightforward, preserving much of the functionality they were familiar with while adding enhanced features and improvements.
Karen Paterson commented:
“Choosing Aurora was a natural decision for us. We were already familiar with Symology’s Insight solution, and Aurora not only retained the best features of Insight but introduced significant improvements, particularly in terms of reporting, mapping, and user experience. It was the next logical step in our evolution.”
From Symology’s perspective, the timing was perfect. The continued advancements in Aurora, Symology’s flagship Street Works and Asset Management solution, aligned with CityFibre’s growth and requirements. Aurora had already been used successfully in Scotland since 2020, so CityFibre was already well aware of its capabilities and potential.
Karen Paterson also added:
“When exploring various products and systems, simplicity is often hard to come by. CityFibre embraces simplicity as one of its core values, and Aurora truly embodies this with its user-friendly design and straightforward functionality.”
Results: Realising Tangible Benefits
Since the switch to Aurora in 2023, CityFibre has benefitted from significant improvements in several key areas:
- Improved Operational Efficiency: The template feature in Aurora has streamlined the permit submission process, reducing the time spent on paperwork and administrative tasks. With Google Street View integration, the team can quickly verify locations and reduce errors.
- Better Reporting and Performance Tracking: The customisable dashboard and advanced reporting tools have provided CityFibre with enhanced visibility into performance, costs, and contractor activity, enabling better decision-making and performance management.
- Warning and Validation Features: Aurora’s built-in warning and validation features have been instrumental in ensuring higher-quality permit submissions. These tools help reduce administrative errors and provide early warnings about potential issues, ensuring compliance before permits are issued. This functionality was a key factor in CityFibre’s decision to upgrade, as it was not available in other upgrade solutions they had considered alongside Aurora.
Karen Paterson emphasised:
“Symology have been supportive of us throughout, always listening, and improving. We trust them to deliver, and their commitment to enhancing our street works management is evident in every aspect of the Aurora platform.”
“Aurora’s dashboard widgets have been a game-changer for us. They give us a strategic view of performance across our build partners and allow us to drill down into the data to identify areas for improvement.”
Sarah Heaps, Street Works Coordinator, CityFibreNew Growth: Integrating Lit Fibre’s Street Works Data
In May 2024, CityFibre acquired Lit Fibre’s network assets. Once contracts were signed, work began to rapidly integrate up to 300,000 Lit Fibre built premises into its own network. To complete this process, Symology is now helping CityFibre to bring Lit Fibre’s street works data into the Aurora platform.
This means Karen Paterson and her team will have a single, streamlined way to access all street works data going forward, including all historic works and associated data from Lit Fibre. By leveraging Aurora’s scalability, CityFibre can ensure that all new data is seamlessly incorporated into their broader street works management processes, further enhancing the efficiency and scope of their operations.
Karen Paterson explained:
“The ability to easily integrate Lit Fibre’s street works data into Aurora is a prime example of the flexibility and scalability of the solution. We’ll have complete visibility of our entire network, including the newly acquired assets, all in one place. This will prove , invaluable as we continue to expand and manage our growing infrastructure.”
Looking Ahead: Future-Proofing CityFibre’s Street Works Management
With Aurora now fully embedded into its operations and able to support network growth through both build and acquisition, CityFibre has the solution it needs to continue to scale and embrace future challenges. Aurora will play a crucial role in managing their street works activities, reducing administrative burdens, and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.
Karen Paterson concluded:
“By upgrading to Aurora, we’ve positioned ourselves for long-term success. The system not only meets our current needs but is flexible and scalable enough to support our future growth. We’ve already seen significant benefits in terms of efficiency, compliance, and cost management, and we’re excited about the continued improvements it will bring.”
Conclusion
For utility providers and infrastructure companies in the street works sector, managing permits, contractors, and costs effectively is critical to operational success. Symology’s Aurora offers a powerful, scalable solution that enhances street works management, builds on the strengths of Insight, and provides advanced reporting, visibility, and user-friendly features.
As demonstrated by CityFibre’s transition from Insight to Aurora, upgrading to a more robust system doesn’t have to be disruptive—it can be a seamless process that leads to significant improvements in efficiency, compliance, and cost management.
If you’re looking for a street works solution that scales with your growth, streamlines operations, and improves performance management, Aurora is the right choice for your team.
