Navy Schedule Service
Overview.
The Challenge.
For decades, the Royal Navy had been scheduled on spreadsheets. These were sometimes disparate, often out of sync and, as a result, didn’t provide a single source of truth that everyone could work from. Despite the risks posed, this old-style scheduling routine remained in place, largely because of the immense complexity of scheduling, especially whilst ships are operational. Despite several attempts, no adequate replacement had been found.
The Solution
First, we conducted a Discovery where we listened to the people who operate this system, namely RN schedulers at the Maritime Operations Centre (MOC) in Northwood. Collaborating with them, and using User Centred Design (UCD), we built and iterated prototype dashboards, ensuring that any replacement system would be created with, by, and for the people who use it. As we moved through Discovery and Alpha, it was clear that a new service would be beneficial.
It was in Beta that the hardest challenges came to the fore. Not only did NSS have to navigate a myriad of security, technological, operational and cultural requirements, it was also being completed against the headwinds of Coronavirus lockdowns. This made cohesion and motivation among a team of 30 people all working remotely even harder. Knowing that failure might mean this challenge may never be attempted again, we kept the team on task throughout, leading difficult conversations with suppliers, military, and government, to create an outcome in which everyone had confidence.
The Results.
NSS now serves more than 800 users, all working from a single source of truth within a secure framework. Planned by a core group of 12 Royal Navy schedulers, it has enabled better-informed decision making, capturing data that can be used on other programmes, and has become a flagship for other digital transformations elsewhere in the Navy.
As a Live operational service, we have updated NSS on an average of every two weeks over the last 18 months. We continue to support the service, which is actively used by over 1,200 users. We are now iterating smart scheduling features that deliver intelligent scheduling and management of the planning, organisation, and coordination of the Royal Navy’s entire fleet of ships, boats, and vessels.
Project highlights.
