Alchemy deliver Platform extranet for First Group franchise

FTSE-100 Company First Group plc is the world's largest transport company. Alchemy have delivered a new extranet portal (named "Platform") for their UK franchise, First Capital Connect (FCC). Platform extends essential information and tools to the 1,300 people on the "front-line" of FCC operations, through the internet.

FCC were seeking a step-change in their online Employee Communictations capability. The existing intranet had become somewhat static, was difficult to maintain and was not generally liked by users. More importantly - as an intranet - the site was only accessible by 40% of the staff. The vision of the management team was to extend powerful tools and information to the front line of customer service; including engineers, train drivers, revenue protection staff and station ticket offices.

The new extranet includes a large number of useful applications and tools for staff, including an extensive news section, feeds of disruption information, detailed route maps, quick fare calculators and more. The feedback from staff so far has been excellent. These are just a few of the direct feedback quotes from employees, posted on the site discussion forum:

• Looks good, very easy to use as well.
• I can see this being of great benefit during disruption management for Operations on-call!
• After all these years someones' finally realised that the frontline staff need to be informed of whats going on - keep up the good work!
• This is a fantastic site, will be very useful to all employees. Full credit to the team involved.
• Looks really good.. been waiting a long time for this.
• Really nice, a lot easier to use and find specific details you wish to look up.

Says Paul Emberley, FCC Marketing, Communications and Information Director, “The Extranet was a key component of our broader Thameslink Programme. We need to keep all our staff updated on how this key programme affects them and the service they provide to our customers. Alchemy's focus on content management impressed us during the pitch and the new site is indeed crammed full of information and useful tools. They have delivered the new site at an amazing pace, too!”

Says David Viney, “We are delighted by the impact the new extranet has had on Operational Effectiveness. Pushing boundaries and achieving truly transformational business change is what gets us out of the bed in the morning... and we are truly proud of what we have achieved in our work with the excellent FCC team”.

About First Capital Connect:

FirstGroup plc is a UK based international transport company with revenues of over £5billion a year. The FTSE-100 Group employs over 135,000 staff throughout the UK and North America and moves more than 2.5 billion passengers a year. In the UK, FirstGroup is both Britain’s largest bus operator and largest rail operator. It also runs the Croydon Tramlink service on behalf of Transport for London (TfL). In North America, the Group operates a number of transit solution divisions, including First Student yellow school buses and the Greyhound inter-city bus transportation service.

First Capital Connect (FCC) was launched over two years ago as a new Train Operating Company (TOC), amalgamating the former Thameslink and West Anglia Great Northern (WAGN) services. The franchise operates trains between London, Brighton, Bedford, Peterborough, Cambridge and King Lynn over the UK’s busiest rail network. The company employs over 2,100 staff, based at approximately 100 locations. They work in a variety of roles and access systems both from the field and from offices.

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 8614 1410
http://www.alchemyebusinessconsulting.co.uk/