Microsoft backs high-tech product developed in Bay

Several firms have quickly signed up for new project management technology, developed in Tauranga using the latest cloud-based computing, and saving them time and money on the job.

After two years of development, Silicon Avenue commercially launched its online business intelligence software, called procision+, at the end of September. It had funding from Technology New Zealand and support from Waikato Innovation Park.

The unique product, which has the backing of Microsoft, enables companies to track and complete projects on time and without cost over-runs.

Already, five customers have decided to use the management system and Silicon Avenue is talking with six other prospective clients, including one in Australia and another in Scotland.

Matthew Garvey, site services supervisor for Hawera-based FNE Engineering, believed the system would immediately save up to 50 hours a week involved with staff returning timesheets.

He runs a team of 27 engineers completing repairs and maintenance work at 10 Fonterra factory sites around Taranaki. The engineers would each spend up to two hours a week taking their timesheets back to the head office.

Now they will be able to connect to the system out in the field, link up with the secure browser setting, and input their hours worked and travel time by mobile phone, iPad or nearby computer.

"I'm not a big computer user but I spent two days of training over a weekend and I'm confident with the system," said Garvey. "I bought an Android tablet and I'm trialling it with eight guys on one site before rolling it out to the others."

Garvey says procision+ sets out a number of tasks and "you can keep an eye on costs, timing, materials and hours".

"It's certainly a cost-effective way to run a project and the technology is the way forward, especially for a small business employing less than 50 people."

Silicon Avenue's clients pay a monthly subscription starting at $10 a person using the system. The client doesn't have to add a server or upgrade computer hardware in the office.

The software product is run on a remote server and the data is stored elsewhere, and clients access it through the internet. It is known as cloud computing, similar to how Google, Facebook, Twitter and others operate.

Shane Eastergaard, owner of Mount Maunganui-based Industrial Sheetmetals, is going online with procision+ in January. "I've been searching for a job management system for a year, and this one ticked all the boxes."

He was particularly taken by the iPad solution, which will replace job and timesheets.

"The guys on the factory floor will be able to access their jobs through their iPads which will hold drawings and descriptions," Eastergaard said.

"They can record their time and materials as they go, and we have an online record of what the job is costing. When the job is completed, an automatic text is sent to the customer telling him it's ready to be picked up.

"We are getting rid of a lot of paperwork, it is saving time and making production more efficient, and it will improve our customer service."

Other procision+ users are Tauranga surveying firm Lysaght Consultants, Edvance employee training, and Auckland-based Zeacom, which provides communications solutions for call centres and businesses in New Zealand, Australia, United States and Britain.

Microsoft New Zealand has added the Silicon Avenue product to its Dynamics Marketplace, which promotes 70 different business software solutions. Silicon is also waiting for a decision from Microsoft at the Asian-Pacific level to launch its product into the wider market.

Silicon is also in touch with a Melbourne-based financial services company which is expanding in Sydney.

"They need the flexibility to price jobs in different states at different rates - and they have to make sure their projects will make a profit or whether there will be any cost over-runs," Silicon director Kevin Mann said.

He is also in contact with Scottish ICT service provider and Microsoft partner NVT Group, which is looking at providing procision+ to Brush Electrical Machines, the largest manufacturer of electric motors in the world. In the Microsoft Dynamics Marketplace, there are seven companies offering separate time collection, time billing and project management services but Silicon is the only one covering all three services or more.

After the details, including planning and timing, are entered into the Microsoft Project programme, procision+ tracks the progress of the project, which could be building a bridge or a factory shutdown for maintenance.

The software produces real-time cost and productivity reports, and it has built-in analytics and a smart dashboard, with colours of traffic lights, which monitors every task.

If the tasks are going well, the dashboard colour stays green; if there's a potential problem with one or more tasks, the colour turns orange; and if its a serious issue, it turns red.

The alerts are automatically transmitted to other people within the project team and company, and they don't have to be in the office to access the management system and check out what may be wrong.

Mann said in the United States construction industry alone, up to US$23 billion ($30 billion) was wasted through inefficiencies in projects.