Case Study - Eurostar International Limited

Company Background

More than 17 years ago Eurostar launched it's first services and began to change the way people travel between Europe and the UK. Today, with around 1,800 employees and hundreds of suppliers, it is vital that the organisation operates a secure, world class ID Card System to manage its information and streamline workflow processes.

Business Challenge

Eurostar required a new, integrated ID Card System to streamline efficiently their security procedures. Enabling the appropriate levels of access for all of their workforce was imperative for Eurostar, and the business wanted an easy to use and intuitive system to streamline the process across multiple sites.

The original Eurostar system was labour intensive and involved a process utilising several key stages. This involved potentially having to take several photographs of the same person, tracking multiple cards per employee and then manually processing the security restrictions through to the door entry systems. This resulted in a lengthy process from start to finish.

Linear Blue Solution

Linear Blue created a unique ID Card System to fit Eurostar's exact security procedure utilising the FileMaker Pro platform.

Linear Blue analysed the existing process which was broken down into key stages. This led to the identification of several points where efficiency and speed improvements could be made. Starting with employee photography, the new system was designed to ensure that only one photograph needed to be taken per person. By implementing a chroma key back drop system it allowed Eurostar the ability to create multiple cards with differing backgrounds from the one image. This in turn also allowed the system to merge the previous multiple records held per person into a single unified record, offering even greater efficiency improvements.

The next stage of integration was to directly link the ID Card system into the physical security system. By utilising SQL integration it allowed for a direct flow of data between the ID Card System and the door entry systems. This reduced time frames from days to seconds. The system also offers users the ability to select from a wide variety of templates to suit the different employee categories and levels of access. These profiles can then be directly printed from the system utilising a specialist ID printer.

Business Benefits

The major benefit to Eurostar was the streamlining and significant speed improvements offered within the ID Card creation process. Overall efficiency was dramatically increased, with admin costs and time significantly reduced, which in turn delivered a healthy ROI against development costs.

The new Linear Blue ID System helped to bring in line a key internal system with the reliability and performance you come to expect from Eurostar's passenger services.

"The appointment of Linear Blue coincided with a number of other internal initiatives as Eurostar prepared to transform its business into a single, unified legal entity for the first time. The driving force behind this move was a desire to streamline the organisation and improve efficiencies. The solution proposed by Linear Blue has played a part in realising these ambitions. Throughout the process, from the initial planning meetings right through to the roll-out of an employee training programme, the level of professionalism demonstrated by Linear Blue has been exemplary".

(Technical Manager, Samuel Okanlawon)

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