In 2003 the directors replaced their exisitng computers with a Windows 2000 server and workstations, and commisisoned a local software house to develop a bespoke database system to automate much of the business processes.

Since it's inception, the ROADS software system has enabled the company to more than double it's turnover without the need for extra staff.

As Darren Riggott, Operations Director says: "Without this system we would have had to employ at least another 5 or 6 people simply to cope with the increased paperwork"

Instead, the companies expansion has been controlled, and the revenue generated from increased sales has enabled them to invest in more plant and equipment to service their customer base, and laterly to employ more staff at it's Tuxford head office to assist in customer service and after-sales care.

The software enables quotations to be quickly generated and tracked, converted to orders with a single mouse-click, produced detailed job-sheets for the field operatives, input return sheets from the installations, and generate invoices.

Additionally the system manages HR data, vehicle and plant assets and maintenance, purchase ordering and stock control, and staff training and H&S records.

A recent innovation to the system came in the form of an electronic planning board.

Because the staff are not particularly skilled in IT, a system had to be devised to match as closely as possible the old magnetic white-board system.

The result is a self-scaling matrix screen with columns for each lining vehicle and rows for 7 days of the week. The display integrates into the order records and maintains colour-coded cells for each trucks operations on a weekly basis, thus allows greater forward planning and review than the previous manual system.

It also dovetails into the the companies use of the Masternaut vehicle tracking system whech enables the planning department to verify that each job is on target in real time.