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Recent developments in Link-up

Recent developments in Link-up

01/01/2009 | Channel: New Products & Services, Business Improvement, Infrastructure

The last quarter of 2008 has seen changes to the Link-up portal.

These have been driven by our listening to what you have said and implementing these changes as part of our process of continual improvement. Some of these are  listed below:
  • When buyers look at the suppliers’ questionnaire they have new, easy-to-read black text
  • Text boxes are now fully displayed throughout the questionnaire
  • Link-up Audit is now delivering consistently over 100 audits per month
  • We are implementing the first round of Product Code amendments as a direct result of engagement with the industry
  • Amendments to audit report to make it easier to use
  • Contact details displayed as part of exporting results from configurable search
Link-up governance
As part of our continuing engagement with the industry we have put in place some changes to the governance of the Link-up scheme. We have launched the Supplier Consultation Group (SCG). This group will gather feedback and opinion from supplier representative groups such as RICA, CECA, RIA, RPA and the Rail Alliance. These organisations will then be able to nominate an observer from the SCG to attend the non-commercial discussions of the Link-up Governance Group and feedback on the performance and monitoring of the scheme. The first of these was held at the beginning of October last year and was a great success.

More buyers than ever before
At the end of 2008 Link-up is being used by more buying organisations than at any time in its history. In November last year we reached a total of 109 buying organisations using the scheme to qualify and source suppliers. This included English Welsh and Scottish Railways (EWS) who joined the scheme in October and who are the largest freight operator in the UK. This long list of organisations covers the full spectrum of the industry from TOCs and FOCs through to infrastructure companies, National Rail, Metro and Underground companies, contractors and consultants.

We can be very clear that Link-up is the rail industry’s choice for supplier qualification. This milestone means that approximately 3000 individuals have access to supplier details through these subscribers and these users include procurement, engineering, and health and safety professionals. Following changes in October, all of these people have access to the full suite of information on over 3000 suppliers enabling them to minimise the need for duplicate qualification questionnaire and validation audit, saving money for all involved.

New Year hopes
By the time this article is published it will be 2009 and Christmas and the New Year festivities are likely to be a receding memory. All the same, all of us at Link-up would like to wish everyone in the rail industry a happy, prosperous, successful and safe New Year.

Thank you for your help and support throughout 2008.

Dates for your diary
Railway Strategies Supply Chain Conference 2009 – We will be there!
Railtex 2008 – 10-12 March 2008 at Earls Court – Come and see us on the stand.

Achilles Tel: 01235 861118
Email: link-up@achilles.com
Web: www.achilles.com