Technology helps cut paperwork

New technologies are helping Hastings District Council keep a close eye on road maintenance projects. 

The Council, working with its engineering consultant MWH, is using a Pocket RAMM (Road Assessment and Maintenance Management), a computerised hand held device which is connected via the internet to a database containing all of the Council’s roading assets. 

The Pocket RAMM uses a separate GPS device, which is used to mark the location of a roading asset such as a road sign. It also tracks the position of the work crews and the location of works being performed across the District. 

Contractors can use the device to retrieve information on current and programmed jobs, pavement construction, lighting, as well as road signs and the date, age and condition of each asset. 

The device simplifies the traditional paper trail for recording details such as when work started on a job, when it was completed and also the location and condition of associated road assets.

Hastings District Council and MWH will also use the system to log public calls relating to roads, and send these through to the contractors to complete where required.

The council's Roading Asset and Programme Manager, Mark Kinvig, said the Pocket RAMM will make it faster and easier for staff and contractors to take care of paperwork.

"It records the day and time the job was done, along with the location. This way there can be no argument about when things were done and how long it took,'' Mr Kinvig said. 

He said it is the first year the council has decided to use such technology and contractors were still coming to grips with the new system. 

"There is a learning curve at the moment, the guys on site are learning how to use them,'' Mr Kinvig said.

Mr Kinvig said the majority of local authorities in New Zealand now use the RAMM database system to store information about their roading assets.