How ARMA Connect tests Britain's landmarks with Shine Forms

“A whole team of engineers can be out on site, each working on their own copy. Then it all gets merged together, so it’s one cert for the whole job. That’s a massive plus point for Shine Forms.”

Richard Hayter. Qualified Supervisor, ARMA Connect

In this story

• ARMA Connect has around 40 engineers testing for organisations of all sizes across the public and private sectors.
• When ten or more engineers test the same site, Shine Forms merges their EICRs and certificates into one.
• Qualified Supervisors can check circuits, cables and test results on a single screen.
• BS 7671 checks remind engineers and supervisors of the right regulation number when something needs a second look.
• When ARMA Connect merged with Novus Compliance, the Novus team moved from Clik to Shine Forms and kept all their records.
• One yearly subscription covers as many certificates as the team needs.
• Problems are rare, and when something does need attention, the Shine Forms team fixes it fast.
• ARMA Connect was one of Shine Forms’ first customers, back when it was called Pirform.

About ARMA Connect, electrical contractors in Kent

ARMA Connect is an electrical contractor based in East Peckham, near Tonbridge in Kent. Fixed wire testing is the heart of the business, along with the remedial work that follows it. The team also carries out emergency lighting testing and surveys and school works, and is moving into EV charging and solar PV maintenance.

Their work covers organisations of all sizes within the public and private sectors, across commercial, industrial, educational, health, finance, retail, national museums, stadiums and heritage buildings. These are places that can’t afford to get electrical safety wrong.

“Any big building in London, we’ve probably been in,” says Richard Hayter, one of ARMA Connect’s Qualified Supervisors.

Around 40 engineers carry out the testing. Every report they produce goes through a team of four Qualified Supervisors before it reaches the client, and every one leaves with ARMA Connect’s logo and NICEIC branding on it.

Electrical certification software from the Pirform beta to today

Shine Forms and ARMA Connect go back further than either of their current names.

Years ago, ARMA Connect was a company called HMC, and one of the very first to try a new piece of certification software called Pirform, which was still in beta. HMC’s owner was so keen to get it right that he drove all the way from Kent to Cornwall to meet the team behind it.

That software grew into Shine Forms. HMC grew into ARMA Connect. Along the way the business has changed hands, taken a new name and merged with another company. The software on every Qualified Supervisor’s screen has stayed the same.

Richard Hayter and Jordan Clarke are two of those Qualified Supervisors. Richard joined in 2019, and Jordan has been with the company for four years. Jordan checks reports during the week and still picks up the tools at weekends. He tried another online certification system in the past and wasn’t impressed by it.

Merge EICRs and certificates from ten plus engineers into one

Fixed wire testing on a big site can’t be done by one engineer. Somewhere the size of a stadium can need ten engineers testing at once, each working on their own part of the building, and all of their results need to end up in the same Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR).

Each engineer works on their own copy of the report. One of them takes the lead, collects everyone’s files and merges them in Shine Forms. By the time it reaches the QS team, ten sets of results have become a single report.

“One of the very good things about Shine Forms is the merging of certs,” Richard explains. ‘Ten or more engineers can be out on site working on their own copy. One is designated team leader, they send all their paperwork to them, and they merge it all together. Sometimes they’ll send us ten versions and we merge it up ourselves.”

It works just as well when a building is split by area.

“Someone’s doing the north wing, someone the east, someone the west. You end up with four certs, and at some point someone merges it all together. So it’s one cert for the whole job.”

The client gets one report for one building, with every circuit in one place, however many engineers did the testing. And the QS team checks one complete report instead of piecing ten together.

Check every circuit on one screen

Between them, Richard and Jordan check dozens of reports every day. Each one starts the same way.

“I drag and drop it straight into Shine Forms, open it up and away I go,” Richard says.

From there, the full schedule of test results is laid out in front of him, with nothing to click through.

“As a QS, I like the fact I can see everything on one screen,’ he says. ‘I can look from left to right and see the circuit description, the cable sizes, the breaker sizes and all the test results in one hit, just by moving my eyes. I haven’t got to flip backwards and forwards between screens.”

Once everything is checked, the report is exported as a PDF and sent to the client.

BS 7671 regulation checks that back up every engineer

Most of ARMA Connect’s engineers get it right first time. When something needs a tweak, the Qualified Supervisors are there to catch it.

“Our job is to be the back line behind them,” Richard says. “They do their job, then we come in and proofread it, double-check it all and make the tweaks. If something’s a bit out of the ordinary or needs more explanation, we go back to them and talk it through.”

Shine Forms helps on both sides of that process. BS 7671 is a big book, and nobody carries every regulation number around in their head. When something on a report doesn’t look right, the software flags it and shows the regulation it relates to, so engineers and Qualified Supervisors know exactly where to look.

“No one can know the book inside out, though I’m sure people try,” says Jordan. “So having it pop up when something’s wrong that hasn’t been noticed is very handy.”

Richard agrees.

“I don’t have regulation numbers sat in my head. I know where the book is, and I can flip through it, but I can’t quote them,” he says. “When one pops up, you can have a quick read. Or it might flag a cable size and you think, hang on, let me double-check that.”

Moving Novus Compliance from Clik to Shine Forms

When ARMA Connect merged with Novus Compliance, another electrical testing and compliance company, the Novus team had been using Clik. There was never any question of running two systems side by side. Everyone would be on Shine Forms.

“I don’t think it was up for negotiation at all,” Richard says.

Shine Forms imported Novus’s existing certificates from Clik, so the team kept their full history. Two Novus Qualified Supervisors have joined Richard and Jordan, and they’re picking up the shortcuts the pair have learned over years of using the software.

For a team this size, the pricing made the decision easy.

“It’s the idea of one subscription a year, as many certs as you want,” Jordan explains. “It’s a no-brainer. Otherwise we’d spend a fortune on certificates.”

Quick support from the Shine Forms team

Problems are rare. When one does turn up, the Shine Forms team puts it right fast, which matters when a team is checking dozens of reports every day.

Jordan saw it for himself only recently.

“They’re very quick at getting back to you,’ he says. ‘I messaged them last Thursday and they’d replied within half an hour and were coming up with a solution.”

A problem never sits waiting for days, so the Qualified Supervisors can get straight back to checking reports.

Why ARMA Connect recommends Shine Forms

Fixed wire testing keeps ARMA Connect busy, and every test ends up as a report that a Qualified Supervisor checks and a client relies on. Shine Forms has supported that work since it was called Pirform, through new owners, a new name, a merger and thousands of imported records.

Ask Jordan whether he’d recommend it, and he doesn’t hesitate.

“Absolutely. It’s the only one I would recommend.”

Richard sums it up in a sentence.

“It’s the bit that supports the bread and butter of our business.”

Richard Hayter and Jordan Clarke, Qualified Supervisors, ARMA Connect