Atkins Rail, one of the UK's leading international railway consultants, adopted a cautious approach to selecting a cost management system that would meet its needs. Choosing RIB Software's industry-leading software is now proving to be a sound investment.

Atkins Rail is the largest UK-based international railway consultancy. Its unique capability is delivered by more than 1700 staff and embraces control and systems integration, civil engineering, vehicles, electrification and programme management.

Its quest to identify the optimum cost management system to meet its strategic objectives first began in March 2004.

"We were looking for a system that was flexible and versatile enough to ensure that the benefits to Atkins and our clients always outweigh the installed cost of the system," explained Will Bentley, head of project controls at Atkins Rail. "Therefore, it was vital that our internal evaluation of RIB Software's cost management software product, RIB CSuite, was detailed and thorough."

An essential stage in Atkins' assessment process was a pilot evaluation study involving more than 50 senior cost managers, quantity surveyors and project controllers from across the organisation. This representative sample of opinion confirmed that RIB's system compared more than favourably with other products on the market, offered significant competitive advantage and that Atkins should continue to pilot and prove the product.

"We reached the end of our 'long and winding road' earlier this year after a comprehensive series of demonstrations, studies and business case presentations to senior management that proved without doubt the enormous benefits that the software will bring to our organisation," added Will.

"Our involvement in major UK rail projects covers an extensive range of services. We are now using RIB CSuite to generate cost estimates for our project activities using a RIB SOFTWARE (UK) LTD structured and cohesive approach. The development of a composite, cost estimating database is enabling us to improve the consistency and accuracy of our estimates and cost models throughout the pre-contract phase."

The software is bringing tangible benefits to Atkins Rail's operations, including timely evaluation and analysis of subcontractor and supplier bids, collaborative working with clients and synergies of effort associated with streamlined estimating processes.

A bi-directional interface between RIB CSuite and Primavera's planning and scheduling software 5.0, is also being installed to enable the seamless integration of cost data for Atkins.

"We are delighted to be working closely with one of the world's largest design firms," said Steve Brunning, managing director of RIB Software (UK). "Our integrated approach helps to ensure that RIB CSuite meets Atkins' specific needs as well as delivering significant cost benefits to its projects."