Alchemy build new extranet for the UK's premier rail franchise, the East Coast Mainline :: 

Alchemy are building an innovative and cutting-edge extranet in SharePoint 2007 for East Coast, to be accessed by staff in the office, the field and at home. East Coast is the UK’s premier Rail Franchise, operating services from Kings Cross to the very north of Scotland. In public hands (at the Department for Transport) since November 2009 (following the failure of the National Express franchise), it employs 2,800 people.

The “Mainline” Extranet is coming together nicely. The joint team with Alchemy and East Coast are working to tight timescales, as required under the Railways Act, to get a new brand and franchise up-and-running in double-quick time (with systems and core processes completely separated from former owners, National Express).

We are doing more, however, than simply rolling out a site quickly. Mainline will feature a number of innovative features, designed to fully enable a largely mobile workforce. At the centre of the site is a cutting-edge Disruption Management solution, which brings in feeds from Industry Systems and Station Web Cams. There are also wikis and discussion boards, where staff can quickly respond to new incidents, as they develop. After all, no two days are the same on the railway!

Alongside this, there are 200+ pages of new content to write, within a refreshing new information architecture and in a great new look & feel. Mainline content will be accessed by staff in the office, in the field and from home; so has been developed through focus groups of staff from across the network (including train drivers, engineers, ticket office staff and revenue proetection officers).

Says David Viney, MD of Alchemy, “It’s always a great challenge to move at pace, whilst not compromising quality. The urgency, focus and teamwork at East Coast has been inspirational. We look forward to a great result upon go-live in June”.

About East Coast:

The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a 393-mile (632 km) long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh. The line is operateed by East Coast (the trading name of East Coast Main Line Company Ltd, a subsidiary of Directly Operated Railways Limited, formed by the Department for Transport as an operator of last resort when National Express refused further financial support to its National Express East Coast (NXEC) subsidiary and consequently lost its franchise in 2009). It employs just under 3,000 people and has one of the best overall customer satisfaction ratings in the industry.

About Alchemy eBusiness Consulting:

Alchemy is a UK-based new media company specialising in the planning, design and delivery of intranet portal solutions. We bring together leading specialists with decades of combined intranet experience, so customers get high quality, cost-effective delivery.

For further information please contact:
David Viney
+44 20 8544 8083
http://www.alchemyebusinessconsulting.co.uk/