Worried about legacy EToN data?
In many ways this was understandable as the data would be held in differing systems and be of variable quality so it would have been an enormous undertaking to transfer the legacy data for every highway authority and every statutory undertaker. In addition, many highway authorities used their EToN systems in slightly differing or non-standard ways, for example to record events and highways licences.
This has left organisations with a difficult decision to make. They need to maintain access to legacy data for insurance purposes or in the case of highway authorities to carry out category B and category C inspections for up to three years after the works have completed.
One of the benefits of Street Manager was intended to be a reduction in cost compared to legacy EToN systems but if the organisation has to maintain both their legacy EToN system to access legacy data and pay the costs of Street Manager then there is actually an overall increase in cost.
Problems solved
Based on our existing web based EToNweb TMA permits system, it has been relatively easy to transition this to a web based repository for legacy EToN data for any organisation. EToNweb already has the structures in place to load, manage and display data in EToN format so the main challenge has been to ensure robust data loading procedures for legacy data.
Data
EToNweb archive is a fully web based system which holds a snapshot of legacy street works data.
Data is hosted on Microsoft Azure servers so is secure and scaleable. There is no need to install or maintain any software as historical data is accessible through any modern web browser.
It is held on a read only basis though there is an option to add comments to works should this be required. It is also possible to store legacy attachments if desired (optional), as there is a requirement to maintain access to these for an unspecified period.
Data is hosted on Microsoft Azure
Subscriptions
In addition, once Street Manager supports unattributable works, it will be possible to select a random subset of works based on date range and export these into Street Manager, effectively as unattributable works, to allow inspections to be carried out on these works within Street Manager.
Access to the system is based on a simple subscription basis, banded based on the size of the legacy dataset with discounts available for longer term subscriptions, reflecting the discounts we can negotiate with Microsoft Azure for longer term commitments. There are no individual user licences or other access limits.
We are aware that the data will be accessed less often as time goes by and the intention is to offer a transfer to a per-access arrangement once the need for this becomes apparent.
- Simple subscription basis,
- Data size banded payments
- Discounts for long term subscriptions
- Unlimited users per organisation
- No access limits
While it may be surprising to think about this now, there is also potentially the option to store legacy Street Manager data as the DfT have said the data will only be stored in Street Manager for a fixed period of 7 or 8 years.