Background:
As a regional organisation responsible for three main functions within a local water catchment area, this council group's mission includes the supply of bulk water to a population of over 100,000 residents and businesses, maintenance of flood mitigation assets and the control of weed biosecurity.
The Challenge:
The council recognised it needed to update its system infrastructure and business processes to meet the challenges of the 21st Century, where a growing population, adverse climate events, constrained resources and biosecurity incursions challenged the organisation’s current processes and systems.
Key objectives from this digital transformation were the delivery of an integrated application environment, including the implementation of a new ERP, CRM and Asset and Maintenance systems.
This investment in technology and a focus on improved business processes were targeting a significant improvement in productivity, staff capability, and service to its constituent councils and the public. Significant emphasis was placed on the usability of the new systems and processes by staff to reduce the time taken to navigate the existing operational systems.
The new solution’s reporting and analytical capability was critical to enabling data-led decision-making. A key business driver of the initiative, Exco Partners, partnering with Asset Vision and Microsoft, was engaged to deliver a cloud-based, end-to-end, integrated solution that could meet the requirements for business operations today and well into the future.
The Approach:
The project was delivered via a three-stage approach; Phase 1 Business Blueprint and Design, Phase 2 Build and Test and Phase 3 Deploy and Hyper care.
The approach was adapted to align with the council's Ways of Working and was designed to build knowledge and alignment with the council's business strategy, goals, and culture. It was organised to build confidence, consistency, buy-in and support from stakeholders throughout the organisation. Most importantly, it established a solid foundation of project management and control from the start, enabling the successful delivery of the project.
Exco Partners’ leveraged our Finance and Operations Transformation Service Blueprints to accelerate the Business Blueprint and Design phase and reduce any perceived implementation risk.
The Solution
The solution addressed the council's key digitisation needs—enabling asset and work management via Asset Vision, financial operations through Dynamics 365 Business Central, and customer engagement with Dynamics 365 Customer Service. Enterprise-wide visibility was delivered through Microsoft Fabric and Power BI, supporting informed decision-making and improved operational control across the organisation.
The Results:
- Successful implementation of offline Mobile Work Management platform
- Data Security: All ERP data assets are now managed within the council's own Microsoft Azure Cloud infrastructure and environment, allowing for consolidated management of information security.
- Simplicity/expandability: The solution utilises Power Automate and the PowerApps environment, which allows the council to expand and evolve the system with low-code development tools without the need for specialised development skills.
- Data integration: Data integration with the ERP database has been simplified within a common environment, making workflow, automation and reporting accessible and expandable.
- Lower total cost of change: Without additional complexity in external data integration, information security, manual business process and specialised development skills, the total cost of ownership will be lower.