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Relocatable Building Management System - RBMS

27 June 2002
Sinclair Knight Merz - SKM
Relocatable Building Management System - RBMS

How HSD helped SKM to improve their efficiency, save money and improve their accountability in the Relocatable Building Project

Challenge

To improve productivity, efficiency, quality assurance processes and reporting procedures for the SKM Statewide Transfer Program of relocatable school buildings.

The system will play a key role in: -

Systematically managing interrelated activities that take place at donor and recipient school of a relocatable building(s)
Improving flow of information between field staff and head office with the use of Internet enabled solutions
Building and managing asset data for relocatable buildings including the electronic management of school plans
Providing reliable information on various aspects of current building transfers, and hence improves the management of business.
Streamlining and automating the repetitive business processes

Description

SKM is the project manager for the Statewide Transfer Program of relocatable buildings project for the Department of Education and Training (DE&T). Over the years, SKM has established a set of business rules and methodology, which enables them to successfully execute modular building transfer projects.

Paul Shanley, Modular Buildings Manager is currently managing this business from SKM's Head Office in Melbourne. Paul is helped by five field staff members and six support / administrative staff members.

Hammond Street Developments Pty. Ltd. (HSD) has been requested by SKM to investigate and design a system that will encapsulate their entire business requirements for the Transfer of Relocatable Buildings.

Situation Analysis

SKM was one of the principal contractors for the PRMS Audit 2000 project (for more information on the PRMS 2000 Audit project, please refer to the case study "Physical Resources Management System"). SKM's involvement in the mammoth project which utilised the advanced computer and communication technology developed by HSD has whetted their appetite for a similar technology solution to help them effectively fulfil their current relocation of buildings contract and tap the potential to leverage their own experience and expertise in this area to widen their markets. In the current highly competitive marketplace, cost efficiency and service quality make the difference between success and failure.

Action Plan and Decision Process

Hot on the heels of its involvement in the PRMS Audit 2000 project, SKM put to HSD a request to investigate and design a system that will encapsulate their entire business requirements for the Transfer of Relocatable Buildings. Drawing upon its proven expertise, HSD designed and developed a turnkey solution for SKM, which has surpassed expectations. "HSD is the clear leader in developing workflow management solutions that meet our requirements" said John Peirce, Senior Project Manager - SKM. "Their ability to integrate with the DE&T facilities system provided an excellent opportunity for efficiency gains and therefore real cost savings" he added.

In August 2001 HSD was awarded the "Relocatable Building Management System" contract by SKM.

Solution Profile and Implementation Strategy

The design of the system has been centred on workflow automation that let users launch workflow processes from remote locations over the Internet. The data collection tools and report/document generator tools are the key sub-systems, which facilitate users to electronically manage their tasks. During the execution of a job, at the end of any predetermined process/event, the data from remote location is imported into a central data store so that the business rules are applied to it and is made available to other authorised users.

Nine key sub-systems have been identified for the Relocatable Building Management System. These systems are:-

Relocate Manager

Manages workflow
Logs events
Encapsulates all business rules
Maintains data integrity between databases
Built-in security with logins and permissions
Enables connection to live data
Manages financial system components

Data File Creator Tool

Creates template for a new job
Imports School/Building data from live data
Assigns Job Numbers, Transfer Numbers
Assigns transfer numbers to field staff members
Extracts Plan files from data store
Compresses the data and plan files

Plan Archive Tool

Receives plan files from Client
Checks plan file for errors
Logs plan receipt in data store
Archives the plan file

Data Collection and Estimation Tool

Collects Asset data for the building
Condition assessment of the building
Hazardous Materials audit (Part - 5 and Part - 6)
Cost Estimate for Building Works
Cost Estimate for Donor Site Works
Cost Estimate for Recipient Site Works
Logs workflow events
View and Mark-up facility of Plan Files enabled

Plan Editor (Plug-in for AutoCAD)

Displays the two plan files in one window
Marks building removal on the donor school plan
Copies building to the recipient school
Customised views for building and room layers
Edits building location/orientation accurately with dimensioning facility
Edits plans as per SAMS standard

File/Data Transfer tool (Over an Internet connection)

File transfer from server to client
File transfer from client to server
Data transfer from server to client
Data transfer from client to server

Data Management Tool

Maintain costing data store
Maintain outsource data store

Document/PO Generator Tool

Creates letter of intimation
Creates purchase orders
Creates sign-off documents

MIS System

· Generates MIS reports

Figure 1 - The Sub-Systems

Networking and Communications

The following diagram illustrates the RBMS network: -

Figure 2- Networking and Communications diagram

Implementation Approach and Timetable

Although the RBMS system design has benefited from the experience gained from the development of the PRMS system, it is not a direct copy as the requirements of the RBMS system were different. The RBMS system was developed completely anew and has many features that are superior to those developed for the PRMS system. Multiple teams were set up for this project to concurrently carry out the development of the Data Collection and Estimation Tool suite of applications, Relocate Manager application and the remaining support sub-systems of MIS reporting, data management and integration services.

"Being able to connect fully functional applications to a central server securely over the Internet allowed us to rapidly develop, deploy and support the entire solution." said Michael Nancarrow, Senior Consultant at HSD.

Case Epilogue

The delivery of the RBMS system to SKM, has strengthened their marketing position by virtue of their vast experience and their use of the latest Internet technologies and tailored computer solution from HSD to excel in this competitive market. SKM and HSD have continued to maintain their growing business relationship over a long period of time in promoting their respective roles as a market leader and solution provider.

The development of the RBMS system, PRMS system and the release of a new product called HSD fm has firmly entrenched HSD at the forefront of providing top-notched maintenance planning systems in the Facilities Management industry.

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