- Client
- National Highways (formerly Highways England)
- Sector
- Public sector · road infrastructure
- Engagement
- Contract via Keystream, then MindCraft
- Period
- 2020 – 2024
The situation
In 2020 Highways England were part-way through an ambitious migration of data into Dynamics 365 Online, led by their Microsoft partner, and it was going badly. A former colleague from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, who had since moved to Highways England, recommended Leonard as someone who could put it right.
What we did
- Took over the migration and completed it using SSIS with KingswaySoft
- Stayed on as technical consultant across several road schemes
- Worked near full-time on the A303 Stonehenge scheme from 2022, including geospatial data work
- Built an app on the then-new .NET MAUI Blazor Hybrid model
- Worked directly with Microsoft on an image management system over Dataverse, using Custom Pages and Azure Functions
- Carried the knowledge of the system through successive changes of IT support provider
The outcome
The migration was completed, and the work continued for four years under three different contracting arrangements. When the IT support contract changed hands, the incoming provider kept Leonard on.
It ended in 2024, when the UK government cancelled the A303 Stonehenge scheme.
Knowledge of the system is worth keeping
When a contract changes hands, the new supplier inherits the system but not the understanding of it. Here, and again later at Argyll, the incoming supplier's first move was to keep the engineer who already knew it.