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ORTEC Harmonizes Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail Workforce
Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail (MBCR), LLC is a partnership among three leading transportation companies: Connex North America, Bombardier and Alternate Concepts, Inc. Because of their collective extensive experience in rail systems maintenance and operation, MBCR was selected by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) to provide safe and reliable commuter rail service for their passengers in the Boston area as of July 1st 2003. In an effort to maximize the effectiveness of the rail operation and improve overall customer satisfaction, MBCR decided to implement a variety of improvements that will enhance the commuter rail experience. Among such improvements is the implementation of HARMONY, a workforce management solution aimed at increasing efficiency and streamlining processes.
The main objective for seeking an improved workforce management system was to have a tool in place that would supplement long-term bids, cyclical schedules and day-to-day crew dispatch functionality with the ability to make last minute and urgent adjustments on a real time basis. MBCR faces challenging situations when attempting to resolve issues such as filling uncovered runs, spare/extra board management, displacements by employees exercising their seniority, excess overtime, vacation planning, sick leave, government/union regulations, qualifications, compensation rules and registration of time & attendance.
ORTEC was chosen in late May 2003 to implement the HARMONY solution in MBCR’s commuter rail environment. HARMONY is able to import employee information from HR, match vacant runs with the right employees, accommodate all constraints and create optimized schedules that can be exported to payroll with ease and accuracy. The actual implementation is divided into two phases. In the 1st phase the main focus was on the crew dispatch operation, while the 2nd phase will focus on Time & Attendance recording. HARMONY has been configured to optimally support MBCR’s process of scheduling engineers and conductors and filling vacant shifts while complying with the FRA regulations, union rules, and agreements made between MBCR and MBTA. MBCR is currently using HARMONY for crew scheduling and daily crew dispatch activities. The 2nd phase is scheduled to start in March of this year.