VAF Infra provides temporary traffic measures for infrastructure works, events and incidents: signs, barriers and other equipment that has to be in the right place on time and go back afterwards. VAF stands for Van Amerongen Facilitair. With branches in Duiven, Echt and Kaatsheuvel and crews out on the road, planning and execution have to run in step, or work overruns. We have been their software partner since 2018.
What began as two connected applications for the office and the field grew into three parts that together form one system: an API, a browser app and an installable tablet app. In October and November 2023 we revised and reorganised the foundation of the office application and the tablet app, while the API was developed further. The 2018 set-up no longer matched the way of working. Now the software follows the daily process of planners and field engineers.
Planning and execution
Lane closure set out step by step
The crew sets out the closure while the traffic keeps moving. The arrow trailer leads, beacons guide vehicles around. Between the closure and the work area, space is deliberately left for the safety of the crew.
The challenge
Outside, the work follows a fixed rhythm: place, adjust, check and collect again. The crew notes what is in place and what changes while the traffic keeps moving. Before 2018 that was done on paper and later in Excel. Work dockets came back to the office, where someone copied them into spreadsheets for planning and stock. The picture lagged behind reality and every copying step was another moment when something could shift or disappear.
That same chain carried the financial handling. Completed work was on forms, rates and agreements in a different administration. Someone had to bring that together before invoicing could happen. That cost time and made corrections inevitable. At the same time this work calls for speed: with urgent jobs and incidents there is no room for sorting things out afterwards. What happens outside has to be correct in the administration straight away.
Work outside ran ahead of the picture inside
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Our approach
In 2018 we developed two applications that connect to each other: planning and administration at the office, handling on the tablet in the field. With the growth to three branches and more kinds of assignments, the way of working changed, with stricter requirements for recording and control. In October and November 2023 we therefore revised and set up the office application and the tablet app again, with the existing API as the foundation, which we developed further. Screens, steps and checks are ordered so that every action follows logically from the work of that day. The main building blocks:
- Work preparation and work orders: the office plans, the field engineer sees on the tablet what has to happen where, with map and instructions for less interpretation
- Tablet app for on the road: installed on the tablet and started in seconds, so work orders are available on site straight away
- Real-time materials and stock per branch on a map: one overview for owned and hired equipment, with a status such as in use, damaged or lost
- Time tracking on the work order: entry happens where the work takes place, without loose notes and without copying it over later
- Integration with Exact Online: work orders post through to the correct item code, so pro forma and sales invoices arise without manual work
- Full revision history: every change is traceable to person and moment, which makes control and accountability simple
- BRL 9101 in the software: required texts, the Normec NCK mark on the printout and a digital audit checklist in the tablet app instead of a folder alongside
The three parts together form one system that has grown with day-to-day practice for eight years now. Under a running operation the foundation has been revised and set up again, step by step and with the existing data carried across, so the work could continue without interruption. New requirements land continuously in what planners and field engineers use every day.
The result
The office and the field work from the same up-to-date picture. A planner sees what is happening outside while it happens, and adjusts without waiting for paper. Materials carry a status and can be followed per branch from issue to return, also when they are hired from an external rental supplier. Every kind of work order has its own item code, so the posting in Exact Online is correct without anyone checking it over. An urgent job with an evening or night rate goes into the administration correctly straight away. Every night at 02:00 a work-in-progress report is ready automatically, without anyone having to compile it.
An urgent job is in the administration correctly straight away
The collaboration moves with the way VAF Infra works. The technology under the software has been kept up to date over the past years instead of ageing, and that continues: further improvements are already queued. Releases go live continuously with small, focused changes that are used straight away in planning and execution.
One digital workflow for planning and execution: materials and statuses are directly visible per branch and work in the field is processed into a correct administration without detours.
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