Transforming Tauranga: Digital engineering for a resilient future
At a glance
GHD Digital partnered with Tauranga City Council (TCC) as they embarked on a transformative journey to help accelerate their operational resilience. Leveraging a combination of digital engineering, ISO19650 standards and a human centred design approach, we helped develop a framework to improve TCC’s City Waters asset information management processes to support their need for sustainable infrastructure and greater operational efficiencies.
The challenge
As a vibrant, growing city, with sustainability, cultural vitality and economic prosperity goals, TCC, based in Aotearoa, New Zealand, faces challenges such as rapid urban growth, environmental sustainability, water management, and the enhancement of biodiversity and green spaces.
TCC was experiencing a once-in-a-generation transformative endeavour of infrastructure development and renewal. They were also rapidly embracing emerging technologies to amplify their operations to meet the evolving expectations of the community.
To address these challenges and opportunities, the City Water team required the efficient collection, storage and management of extensive information. This included information on existing infrastructure, ongoing capital projects, and operations and maintenance. The activity must ensure that this information is accurate, accessible, and integrated across various departments to support informed decision-making, prioritisation of resources and planning for future investments.
To do this effectively at scale and with consistency, City Waters’ team recognised that they needed a different approach to digital engineering and information management. They were prepared to explore new methodologies that facilitated the exchange and utilisation of digital structured information across capital projects, operations, the organisation and broader value chain.
Our response
GHD Digital's specialisation in digital engineering was instrumental in guiding TCC on a digital information management processes journey. Adopting the ISO19650 standards, we introduced a pragmatic, step-by-step process improvement plan for information management. This approach ensured standardised data capture and a seamless integration of asset information to strengthen TCC's operational capabilities. One of the goals was to update the way TCC procured, received and integrated asset information into the organisation, creating a seamless handover of data and paving the way for a digital engineering transformation.
The collaboration began with three pilot projects, each designed to deliver incremental value. This served as the catalyst for rolling out the developing framework providing information management services, including Opal Drive PS, Te Maunga Third Clarifier and Oropi WTP CIP upgrades. Learnings from these projects were implemented in the development of future projects for the organisation and shared with the broader asset management cohort.
Together, these projects standardised asset data that was integrated straight into TCC’s asset database, laid the foundation for the Digital Engineering for Information Management (DEIM) plan, a testament to the power of gradual investment and corresponding ROI. The DEIM includes the development of new frameworks to integrate and support enterprise asset management systems, asset information strategies and open data initiatives.
As we progressed, the focus remained on empowering TCC's team with new ways of working, facilitating change management and keeping the key stakeholders involved.
The impact
The partnership between TCC and GHD Digital led to improved information management processes, standardised data capture and developed a digital engineering framework. The DEIM plan improved service delivery and established a culture of data-driven excellence, building new skills across the asset information management team. This accelerated integration and provided rapid access to necessary asset information to operate, maintain and optimise asset lifespans.
Now, City Water has a more dependable, interconnected digital infrastructure that can be prioritised to meet community needs and foster sustainable growth. Central to this transformative process is the understanding that data is a vital asset and if effectively managed, can yield substantial long-term value. For example, cost reductions in capital projects through reduced risk, requests for information and information handover process improvement.
Asset management has also been improved by having access to the right data for each asset in a centralised accessible repository, saving TCC time on information retrieval and unnecessary rework to capture missing data.
As the partnership continues to grow and innovate, the journey of digital transformation can unlock new possibilities for the community and the environment, ensuring a resilient and prosperous future for Tauranga.