Background
Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS) was formed in April 2021 as the UK’s specialist nuclear transport organisation.
It brought together Direct Rail Services (DRS), International Nuclear Services (INS) and Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (PNTL) to operate as the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) single transport division.
NTS is the leading global provider of safe, secure and reliable nuclear transport solutions that make the world safer and more sustainable.
The Problem
A fundamental component of the transformation programme that brought DRS and INS together to make NTS, was the development of a cultural blueprint. Embedding the principles within that blueprint would be essential to creating a high-performance culture.
It was essential that their performance development systems and processes were aligned around that blueprint, and that equal weight was applied to task and behavioural performance to drive the desired cultural change.
In support of this, a consistent set of management standards were created – for example, setting clear expectations that could change and evolve in year rather than annual objectives and appraisals; ensuring every employee had monthly one-to-ones with their manager; and a drive to see regular feedback as the norm, real-time feedback throughout the year.
NTS wanted to ensure that they had a system which would bring the cultural blueprint and management standards to life, enabling the new ways of working they wanted to see.
The Solution
Crimson provided a Canvas PowerApp to capture performance development information from managers and their teams at NTS. Microsoft’s Dataverse cloud platform was used to store and manage the data, but to also add additional security measures, including hierarchy security so managers further up the hierarchy can participate in the performance reviews of employees. While Dataverse was chosen to store the data, SharePoint was also a viable option for this. However, due to the relational data structure, Dataverse was deemed more appropriate.
The proof of concept was successful, and so it was extended, with additional key features added to the application such as additional user security. The project was managed using Azure DevOps, separating the build into six sprints that each lasted a fortnight.
The app was built using graphical user interfaces and configuration, rather than the traditional hand-coded computer programming on Microsoft Cloud Technologies that use low-code/no-code features. This benefitted NTS, as it only requires users to have an Office 365 login as it was built within the Office 365 toolset Power Apps. Power Apps can be downloaded onto users’ phones or tablets using their standard Office 365 login, maintaining simplicity and security.
The Outcome
The application was launched in June 2022 to employees. Within a week, 220 employees had logged performance feedback and assessments. By July 2022, NTS were looking to extend the application to include Power BI reporting and trend analysis by department, to track behavioural and task performance over time.
Phase two of the project, starting in September 2022, will seek to increase the audience of the application and introduce mobile and tablet friendly versions. The second phase will also include graphs to help employees benchmark themselves against the rest of the company.
“Working with Crimson on our brand-new personal development system has been a pleasure. The system was up and running quickly, and we’re already seeing great feedback. I’m looking forward to continuing the relationship with Crimson during phase 2.” – Matt Swift, Programme Manager, NTS
