Kier Construction began connecting pockets of excellence

Before Kier Construction moved its information delivery planning into Morta, the team spent 10–15 hours each week combining hundreds of spreadsheets into one client deliverable. Moving the IDP into Morta removed that weekly task and produced a controlled template that Kier reused across seven custodial projects. That was one part of IM Excellence, Kier's effort to connect tools and processes that had developed separately across its projects.

Executive summary

Kier's IM Excellence programme set out to connect good practices that had developed on individual projects. Tom Crossley's work on information delivery planning brought a controlled plan in Morta together with actual document information from Viewpoint, giving the delivery team a way to see which planned items had arrived. The team removed about 10–15 hours of weekly spreadsheet consolidation and reused its reporting pattern across seven custodial projects that shared the same common data environment (CDE). A separate report made requests for information (RFIs) filterable by topic and responsibility. Ashley Dawson's risk register separated submission, review, commercial input and wider visibility, while his package mappings gave suppliers the asset information requirements (AIR) relevant to their work. One demonstrated package received 17 relevant rows from a 140-row table. These were working examples within IM Excellence, with further connections planned over the following 12 months.

Evidence at a glance

• Kier saved about 10–15 hours a week by removing the task of combining hundreds of IDP spreadsheets into one client deliverable.
• Seven custodial projects reused the Morta, Viewpoint and Power BI reporting pattern, with all seven sharing the same CDE.
• 17 of 140 AIR rows contained the requirements relevant to one supply-chain package in Ashley's demonstration.

We're really looking at how we connect the dots and connect with data between those tools and those processes so that we can start to look at the bigger data picture.

Ashley Dawson

The results

10–15 hours a week removed from IDP consolidation

Moving the information delivery plan into Morta removed the weekly job of combining hundreds of spreadsheets for the client. Tom put the saving at about 10–15 hours. Pick lists, document codes and naming rules were held in one place, keeping the plan consistent as people added information.

The plan also became a basis for tracking delivery. Connecting it to actual document information in Viewpoint gave the delivery team planned and received information together for reporting. They could see which planned items had arrived, alongside the information they needed to share with the client.

One pattern reused across seven projects

Kier started with its existing Excel delivery plan at HMP Millsike, translated it into Morta and connected it to Viewpoint. Once the data structure and Power BI report were established, the team reused that pattern across seven custodial projects.

All seven used the same CDE. Kier could reuse the connection without working through a different API for each project, and the consistent data supported one Power BI reporting template. Each project had its own report, while the wider custodial reporting environment brought the sites' planned and actual information together. Tom recalled taking less than 18 months to move from the first template to deployment across the prison estates.

Different access for different jobs

Ashley's risk and opportunity register let everyone on the project submit an item, authorised reviewers assess it, and project managers and commercial managers add commercial records. The wider team could inspect the register without changing its contents. Each group could take part without receiving permission to edit every field.

The detailed responsibility matrix made requirements more specific for the supply chain. It connected packages, buildings, suppliers and AIR assets. In Ashley's example, a supplier received the 17 rows relevant to its package rather than having to identify them within all 140.

The challenge

Kier already had useful tools and processes. Its project teams had introduced different improvements in different places, but those practices had not consistently been brought together on a single project. Ashley wanted to connect the data between them.

The IDP exposed the difficulty of maintaining a common structure through separate spreadsheets. People could change columns, data and pick lists. Templates drifted apart over time, while document references and descriptions still had to follow the client's requirements.

For RFIs, Tom found Viewpoint a little stuffy to use, hard to track and hard to visualise. The records were in the CDE, but his team needed an easier way to inspect outstanding questions and who was responsible for answering them.

The risk and AIR examples posed different problems. Sharing an Excel risk tracker did not give Kier the control it wanted over who could change particular fields. Giving a supplier the entire AIR table left it to find the requirements for its own package.

The solution

A common data structure makes information reusable across reports. Permissions determine what each person can change, while relationships determine which requirements apply to their work. Kier used each of these controls for a different purpose within IM Excellence.

Tom's IDP work controlled the plan's columns, pick lists, codes and validation. The connection to Viewpoint supplied actual delivery information, and Power BI returned it as reports the team could use. Ashley's risk workflow controlled participation around one register. His detailed responsibility matrix connected packages and suppliers to the relevant requirements.

Each platform kept a specific job. Viewpoint remained the CDE. Revizto held the model-to-package mapping before it was exported. Morta held the structured tables, permissions and relationships, with Power BI presenting the reporting views.

Kier had begun connecting parts of the wider IM Excellence programme. Ashley planned to extend those connections over the following 12 months.

The implementation

Information delivery planning

Kier translated the existing Excel plan into a Morta template and set permissions around it. Controlled pick lists and codes kept entries consistent. Validation checked document names against the client's requirements and helped prevent duplicate references and descriptions.

The IDP recorded what was expected to be delivered. Viewpoint supplied the actual document information. Connecting those records let the delivery team compare the plan with what had arrived, then use the same structured information in project and custodial reports. The team could track delivery against the plan without first assembling hundreds of separate spreadsheets.

RFI reporting

Kier kept its RFI records in Viewpoint. Morta brought them into a consistent data set for Power BI, where the project team could filter by topic, category, originator and assignee. Participants could select the questions raised by or assigned to a particular person and inspect what remained unanswered. The report covered RFIs involving both the client and the supply chain.

Scheduled refreshes kept a daily snapshot available, and the team could refresh before a meeting to inspect the latest available questions and responsibilities together. The reporting process ran with limited manual handling once it was set up. Viewpoint continued to hold the source records.

Tom was also exploring a connection between RFIs, the IDP and related drawings or work packages. That would help the team see where an unanswered question might hold up another package that relied on the information. This dependency link was still being developed.

One risk register, with permissions for each job

Everyone on the project could use a form to record a risk or opportunity. Completing the fields and pick lists created the entry in the register. Participants could submit an item without editing the existing entries around it.

Authorised reviewers then assessed entries in risk workshops, usually every two to four weeks depending on the project stage. They could add detail and mitigation strategies in the editable white fields. Grey fields held fixed or calculated values that could not be changed during the review.

Project managers and commercial managers could add the commercial record. A separate read-only view let the wider team inspect the full register without changing or deleting its data. Below it, a Power BI dashboard summarised priority and status. This replaced the manual dashboard updates in the earlier Excel process.

From a works package to the relevant AIR rows

Kier's detailed responsibility matrix went beyond recording who was responsible or accountable. It linked each works package to the buildings it covered and the suppliers working on it. A project could contain several buildings, and a package could involve more than one supplier. Those relationships established whose requirements the package view needed to show.

The team then identified the BIM requirements for each package, including models, data and operation and maintenance information. Kier's delivery groups made the initial distinction explicit. Group one supplied models and data, group two supplied data, and group three had no model or data requirement.

Kier used custom parameters in Revizto to link IFC entities in the model to works packages. Exporting those relationships into Morta connected the packages with the relevant assets in the AIR. When a supply-chain organisation opened its package view, that mapping selected the assets for which it needed to provide information.

In Ashley's example, the supplier received 17 relevant requirement rows instead of searching a table of 140. The view specified the information required for that package, making the requirement more manageable.

Before and after

About Kier Construction

Kier Construction is part of Kier Group. It delivers public and private projects across sectors including education, healthcare, defence and justice, with work ranging from hospitals and schools to prisons.

Explore Kier's business divisions.

What's next

At the time of the showcase, Kier planned to connect more of the tools and processes in its IM Excellence map over the following 12 months. Ashley hoped to return to the Morta Community to explain that work in more detail.

Watch the Community Showcase

Watch Ashley Dawson and Tom Crossley's Kier Construction Community Showcase.

Try Morta on a real project

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