Collaboration and Content Management

Enterprise Information & Application Integration

Enhancing operational efficiency
and business process through
Collaboration and Content Management

Client

Tonkin & Taylor is a leading New Zealand environmental and engineering consultancy with strong reputation for technical geotechnical and geology engineering, environmental and water resources engineering. They provide innovative, cost effective and sustainable solutions for a diverse range of clients across New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippines. Some of the high profile clients using their services and line of business applications include Earthquake Commission, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, Wellington City Council, Malaysia Light Rapid Rail Mighty River Power, Well Connected Alliance, Memorial Park Alliance, AquaSure, and Hutt City Council.

Business Challenges

The client involved in extensive collaborative environment for performing a variety of engineering specialties which requires constant data flow.

Natural disaster damages assessments in New Zealand on behalf of Earthquake Commission (EQC) necessitated major IT requirements in terms of technical resources for undertaking development and support to the line of business (LOB) applications across the client’s business operations and for their end clients.

Each LOB has different requirements with specialized data sources and varying workflows that are assisting the client and/or their end clients in optimising their business operations and IT strategies.

When damage occurs to residential land or property resulting from a natural disaster, there are challenges associated with identification and determination of the best method of remediation. Pricing can also be very challenging in earthquake engineering. The effects of earthquakes require analysis and design solutions from the specialist geo-technical engineers.

Engagement

Under an aggressive cost effective and qualitative IT procurement initiative, Tonkin + Taylor has replaced a New Zealand’s leading IT solutions and services provider with a Covalense Global. Under a flexible, cost-competitive and scalable IT model, Covalense Global deployed a 12-member development team including Technical Architects, Administrators, Developers and Analysts in Microsoft SharePoint, .Net and Geospatial technologies. These teams further complimented the in-house teams of the client in offering a variety of services and solutions in Managed Services framework including support and administration of various LOB solutions with business-support processes.

Application Development

Custom application development in Microsoft SharePoint platform.requirements.

Branding of SharePoint 2010 portals and Intranet development in SharePoint 2013.

Migration and upgrade the existing LOB applications and SharePoint platform into 2013

Assessment and analysis reports for Finance, Accounting and Billing in Microsoft.Net framework.

Reporting for cross applications from custom SQL databases and Active Directory.

LOB applications covering the AutoCAD drawings, lab samplings and custom reports.

ProjectOrbit

ProjectOrbit leverages Tonkin & Taylor’s engineering and project management expertise to provide an information management system that specifically addresses the needs of engineering projects today. The system provides the reliability and flexibility to suit client’s LOB requirements. Developed in Microsoft SharePoint 2013, ProjectOrbit has been successfully used in the engineering industry across New Zealand, Australia and Asia across a range of organisations and applications, from multi-million-dollar infrastructure alliance systems to asset living archives to environmental monitoring and reporting solutions.

Readily integrated with existing project software systems, the system offers anytime and anywhere access to organisation’s information via a centralised and secure document storage system with disaster recovery and business continuity functionality.

Fast retrieval of information using advanced search engine technology.

Collaborative environments with data management solutions for client’s team and subject matter experts (SMEs) in engineering.

Formal industry proven workflows to control and record processes; automation of tasks for project functions including quality assurance, risk management, hazard management and document control.

Powerful graphical interface for accessing geospatially referenced information.

Solution affords rapid deployment with no IT infrastructure investment or setup, the system provides iinformation flow, collaboration, auditing, and reporting in accordance with Building Information Modelling (BIM) principles.

Document management enables easy to locate information, knowledge sharing while maintaining integrity of information.

Data monitoring is accurate, efficient and secure with easy processing of data from instruments in easily digestible formats for decision making.

Geospatial features for early trend identification of key factors requiring monitoring and timely warnings to engineers to make informed decisions and act quickly.

Risk mitigation is ensured through track and audit all aspects of critical processes with management tools to analyse risks.

Geospatial Analysis and Solutions

EQC land damage assessment and analysis reports; Geo-technics sampling applications; increased vulnerability to liquefaction and flooding in Canterbury region of New Zealand.

Claims processing with accuracy using geospatial techniques and maps for better decision making and simplified processes.

Scenario generation to better visualise the increased flood vulnerability due to ground movements.

Use ArcGIS suite and maps to compile geographic data, perform spatial analysis, and share geographic information online.

Reporting for cross applications from custom SQL databases and Active Directory.

Combine information from many independent layers by applying a rich set of spatial operations.

Geographic data management by building, and sharing geographic information using features and tabular data, imagery, online maps, 3D and share the information collections across the client’s business operations.

GIS data processing by deploying standalone spatial data management tools.

Business Benefits

Technology access from single source – As a one-stop shop solution provider with dedicated resources, Covalense Global enabled the client with multiple technology services and consultancy tailored to their LOB applications with in time and their budget. Our innovative style of being a dedicated resource has earned national recognition and respect with some of the most prestigious companies in New Zealand.

Adaptability and scalability – Client has been able to increase and reduce the resource deployment without cost implications in a shorter timeframe depending upon the business propositions. Highly experienced Covalense Global team has easily complimented the cross-cultured in-house teams.

Rapid deployment solutions- Covalense Global solutions in Microsoft stack and Geospatial techniques for land damage assessment on a very large scale in a limited time frame with accurate and faster claims processing has helped the client immensely in decision making, scenario generation and overall business process improvements.

Time to market solutions – Deployment of Covalense Global team has enabled the client to address the complexities with solutions within quick turnaround and time-to-market solutions. A number of technical challenges and issues have been successfully identified, addressed, and tested.

Competitive advantages- Covalense Global engagement model reduced the complexity of IT procurement and total cost of ownership (TCO).