West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) had responsibility for Transport Modelling & Data Management for the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) held in Birmingham. These responsibilities include the provision of journey time service level to the organising committee as part of the games, which requires a range of systems, data and scenarios need to be managed. The TfWM Data Insights team required a system to automate the data management processes surrounding the CWG data covering four systems. Effectively, the authority needed a system to manage extensive scenario analysis across multiple systems.
Overview
Our team is the sole SME supplier on the TfWM Data Insights Framework and through the framework has been commissioned to develop a Data Management Strategy and architecture strategy for Commonwealth Games modelling data, advice on changes to data processes within the LTDM for improved interfacing with SWAT and to deliver a Solution Design and Architecture for the Games Journey Planner.
As a leading data science and data management consultancy, we are a commercial partner to the Data Insights Service at the WMCA https://www.tfwm.org.uk/strategy/data-insight/commercial-partners/. We were commissioned by TfWM Data Insight team to provide support to develop a strategy for data management, integration and version control against their long-term data management aspirations whilst also meeting their immediate needs.
TfWM came to us based on their experience working with us and confidence in our ability to deliver the requirements, work collaboratively with a broad range of stakeholder, and provide robust, independent and trusted recommendations within the tight time frames of the project and that would meet the diverse needs of stakeholders while being deliverable in practical terms in time for the Games.
City Science Response
As a leading data science and data management consultancy, we are a commercial partner to the Data Insights Service at the WMCA . We were commissioned by TfWM Data Insight team to provide support to develop a strategy for data management, integration and version control against their long-term data management aspirations whilst also meeting their immediate needs.
At the point of our commission there was limited consensus over the best route forward for the journey planner. To address this challenge and develop a clear solution routemap, we adopted a partnership approach and met with a diverse set of stakeholders undertaking an accelerated Discovery Phase. Within this this phase we developed a clear prioritisation framework that would ensure that all stakeholders could achieve consensus. We then used this prioritisation framework to set out the key technical constraints and critical actions. From here, we were able to help all stakeholders understand the technical design variables and their relative priorities. This enabled us to create a blue-print that could achieve consensus, while delivering against all of the stakeholder objectives.
We worked in conjunction with the client and other stakeholders to undertake an extensive technical discovery phase to identify and explore a range of the region’s existing and emerging future assets, datasets and projects, in particular mapping dataflows across and between:
- Midlands Future Mobility – a real-world testbed environment for CAV technology
- The Regional Transport Coordination Centre – an integrated operational control centre for the West Midlands
- Spectator and Workforce Access Tool (SWAT) – a detailed forecasting tool for the CWG
- Policy Responsive Integrated Strategy Model (PRISM) – a multi-modal transport model
Based on our findings, we developed a comprehensive technical options appraisal to evaluate the methods for data management. From these options a delivery roadmap was developed.
Outcomes
Our accelerated Discovery Phase enabled us to comprehensively survey user requirements, identify and evaluate technical interfaces and data sources, achieve consensus and recommend a clear route forward for technical delivery in time for the games.
We provided TfWMs with a detailed delivery roadmap for the preferred options, providing realistic, cost-effective solutions to achieve their short, medium and long-term data management requirements. This covered a wide range of areas including technology, governance, skills and training.
In addition, output from our work supports emerging 5G and Future Mobility Workstrands and is also directly applicable to other developments within the region, including major events, Coventry City of Culture 2021 and disruption caused by major infrastructure projects such as HS2.
The project demonstrated to TfWM our ability to understand diverse requirements and complex systems and create a clear path forward based on deep evidence of user needs and technical systems and architecture expertise.
Testimonial
“Data Insight is a data and research service consisting of tools, resources and capabilities provided by TfWM on behalf of the WMCA and its seven Constituent Members. We have been supported by City Science who recently completed a review and roadmap for data management and version control. We found City Science very responsive and the work extremely valuable. We were impressed with City Science’s ability to quickly understand our business, provide a path forward and to communicate that clearly. The project outputs are now driving some of our next phases of work. We look forward to collaborating together on future projects.”
Stuart Lester, Data Innovation Lead, TfWM