Case Study: Utilities

Real-time digital PMO at scale.
20% projected cost savings.

How Severn Trent Water, Movar, and SymTerra built an award-winning Digital PMO delivering live site data, automated reporting, and AI-powered insights across a £6.6 billion AMP8 capital programme.

Unlimited users Full site management Built-in AI Cancel anytime
Severn Trent Water SymTerra dashboard

"STW have found SymTerra to be a really useful tool in bringing updates from site into the office, enabling updates and information to be shared quickly and easily."

Conor Mullan
Senior Programme Manager, Severn Trent Water

The Challenge: Delivery in the Dark

With a capital programme exceeding £6.6 billion under AMP8, Severn Trent Water needed seamless coordination between field teams and head office. Instead, they faced fragmented systems and limited visibility.

Disjointed communication

Field teams and office-based project managers struggled with inconsistent and disconnected communication, leading to misaligned priorities and delayed decisions.

Inefficient reporting

Legacy spreadsheet-based systems made project reporting time-consuming and prone to errors, hindering real-time insights across the programme.

Resource allocation challenges

Difficulty in accurately tracking progress and forecasting needs resulted in suboptimal resource allocation and escalated costs across the portfolio.

Scaling operations

The growing number of projects required a scalable system to maintain governance and control without disproportionately increasing overheads.

Measurable Impact

Results in Just Six Months

From day one, the system transformed how data moved between site and office.

2,000+
Live updates captured
17,000+
Site images and videos
800+
Location tags via what3words
32
Subcontractors onboarded

What This Delivered

Productivity Gains

Manual data tasks replaced by intelligent automation, freeing up time for strategic work.

Faster Decisions

AI-generated narratives provide instant clarity, helping teams respond to challenges proactively.

Up to 20% Cost Savings

Fewer delays, better resource planning, and improved schedule adherence across the programme.

Cultural Shift

A lasting change in how projects are managed, driven by transparency, agility, and accountability.

Global Project Controls Innovation of the Year

This programme won the Global Project Controls Innovation of the Year award, recognising the impact of combining real-time site data with intelligent project controls.

The Solution: PMO Meets Site Reality

Together, Movar and SymTerra designed a solution that connected site teams with head office, turning live field data into actionable project intelligence.

01

Live progress tracking from site crews

SymTerra empowered field teams to provide live updates from the ground, feeding directly into a digital project controls system. This eliminated communication silos and dramatically accelerated response times.

Photographic evidence captured as it happened
Commercial notes, H&S info, and more in real time
GIS pins and what3words for location clarity
SymTerra live updates dashboard
02

Connected plans, data, and reports

The system connected project plans from Primavera P6 with real-time updates from SymTerra, survey data, and site reports, all consolidated into a live reporting suite using the Microsoft Power Platform.

Single source of truth for all stakeholders
Dashboards that made sense, without more admin
AI-powered insights for faster decisions
Read more about the partnership
SymTerra and Movar integration screenshots
03

Driving innovation and efficiency

This collaboration was about more than just technology. It was a shared commitment to innovation, operational excellence, and empowering people with the tools and training to succeed.

Real-time site integration with live escalation
Automated reporting replacing manual tasks
GIS-powered dashboards with RAG indicators
GIS-powered PMO dashboards

Why It Worked

What we did

  • Real-time site capture
  • PMO strategy alignment
  • Live dashboards
  • Trusted site input

Why it mattered

  • No delays. No chasing. Just clarity.
  • Teams did not need to change process. The tool fit around it.
  • Not a "nice-to-have". A single source of truth.
  • Used by people with boots on the ground, not just behind desks.