Region

 Cheshire West & Chester

Solution

Mapper, Engagement, Streets

The importance of flexibility, hands-on training, and regular communication made our transition to AppyWay seamless.

Jamie Barron, Team Leader - Highways Area, Team Cheshire West & Chester Council

Overview

Background

 

Cheshire West and Chester Council manages one of the most diverse road networks in Northwest England. Approximately 2,300 kilometres of roads and 2,450 kilometres of footway serve bustling urban centres and expansive rural communities. The network spans historic city centres like Chester, industrial hubs, and picturesque countryside, creating unique traffic management and regulation challenges.

The Council’s Highway Team, face the complex task of balancing the needs of residents, businesses, and tourists while maintaining efficient traffic flow and parking management. With the area experiencing significant population and commercial development growth, the pressure on the road network has intensified, making effective traffic management increasingly crucial.

Historical old town of Chester

Managing traffic orders and parking restrictions across such a diverse area requires robust digital infrastructure. We needed a system that could handle the complexity of our network while remaining user-friendly and efficient for our team. Traffic Suite by AppyWay was the answer for us.

Jamie BarronTeam Leader - Highways Area, Team Cheshire West & Chester Council

Chester’s view on Mapper

Why AppyWay?

Like many local authorities, Cheshire West faced critical issues with their legacy traffic management system and growing pressure to improve the customer experience with digitised online accessible services.

After evaluating various options, the Council chose to procure AppyWay’s TrafficSuite for several key advantages:

  • Improved Journey Planning
  • Zero-downtime migration path
  • Preservation of historical data
  • Future-ready platform supporting DTROs
  • Intuitive consultation module for public engagement
  • Comprehensive onboarding support
  • Flexible training approach
  • Rapid team adoption potential

Implementation and Training

AppyWay team followed a flexible yet trusted onboarding process for Cheshire West Council:

Project Kick-Off

(Week 1-3)

  • Roles and responsibilities agreed
  • Communication planning, weekly calls in the diary
  • Initial data assessment
  • Plan to configure the system
  • Team access & training agreed
  • Migration planning
  • Preparation of data for CW&C
  • Project plan created

Data Migration & Training

(Week 4)

  • Customer sign-off/ acceptance of the plan
  • Historical data transfer
  • Data review & analysis report
  • Set up of users inc additional temporary edit licenses for team involvement

Training

(Week 5)

  • Hands-on sessions with real data
  • Live system practice
  • Expert-led workshops
  • Practical use cases

Quality Assurance and Launch (Week 6-8)

  • Customer-led QA of data
  • Final data verification
  • System testing
  • Go-live support

The implementation process was methodical and efficient, beginning with a core team of five members and expanding to eight during data migration and quality assurance. 

The hands-on training was exactly what we needed - instead of going through generic examples, we worked directly with our own data on our laptops. This meant we could ask real, practical questions that came up as we used the system. Mike, Freya and Sarah from AppyWay were there to answer everything on the spot

Jamie BarronTeam Leader - Highways Area, Team Cheshire West & Chester Council

Results and Benefits of Transferring Traffic Management System to AppyWay

1. Streamlined, Flexible Data Migration

The transition to AppyWay’s TrafficSuite was smooth and efficient, with the platform’s flexibility allowing the council to address pre-existing data discrepancies during migration. AppyWay’s team provided additional licenses temporarily, enabling more team members to participate in reviewing and correcting data.

2. Enhanced Team Collaboration

Cheshire West and Chester are as seen on Mapper

The whole implementation team from AppyWay was excellent. Mike Potter (Head of Customer Success) had strong experience with traffic regulation orders and local authority work, which meant he could explain everything clearly and answer our specific questions. The Customer Success team provided great ongoing support whenever we needed it. The Project Manager, Freya Markham, was very detail-oriented, which helped keep everything organised during the setup phase. AppyWay team matched well with ours – it felt like we were dealing with people who really understood our way of working.

Jamie BarronTeam Leader - Highways Area, Team Cheshire West & Chester Council

The council particularly appreciated the expertise of AppyWay’s team members, including deep knowledge of traffic regulation orders and continuous support.

3. Adaptable and Flexible Approach

One of the standout benefits was AppyWay’s flexible approach to implementation.

The flexibility in onboarding, such as accommodating additional users and customising approaches to meet unique requirements, stood out as a key benefit.

Jamie BarronTeam Leader - Highways Area, Team Cheshire West & Chester Council

This adaptability of a collaborative environment where both parties could address challenges creatively and efficiently. Regular communication ensured tasks were completed without unnecessary delays, with meetings scheduled only when necessary to streamline the process.

4. Future-Ready Infrastructure

The council is now well-positioned for the future of Digital Traffic Regulation Orders (DTROs). The platform’s capabilities align with their digital transformation goals, providing a foundation for continued innovation in traffic management.

5. Ongoing Support

Within 6 months of implementation, AppyWay delivered:

  • Complete migration of all historical data
  • Training program completed by 15 end users
  • Comprehensive consolidation order for existing static restrictions
  • Full system capability for new order creation and management

The transition included a specialised face-to-face workshop led by the Customer Success Team, focusing on practical mapping and order creation using live schemes. This hands-on approach with real-world examples ensured immediate practical application of the TrafficSuite system.

Thriving cities, from the kerb up

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