|
|
|
NEWS FROM EAGLE TECHNOLOGY
GROUP
|
|
Meritec completes first annual balance with BST
Enterprise
Meritec has just completed it's first annual balance with the professional
services automation solution BST Enterprise, two months after going
live in July.
 |
|
Peter Fromont, Financial Controller, Meritec Limited
|
"It was an ambitious project to implement a new system in 11 offices
in six countries in just five months," said Meritec Financial Controller
Peter Fromont.
"The timeframe was dictated by the desire to get a couple
of monthly cycles under our belt by the time our annual balance
date came round at the end of September."
Eagle Technology Group, who market and support BST Enterprise in
New Zealand and Australia provided project management and consulting
services to supplement the Meritec resources and also carried out
integration and data conversion services.
"Our partnership with Eagle was a critical factor in the success
of the project," said Mr Fromont.
"Additionally, being web based was a huge plus in both the speed
and cost of implementation throughout the organisation," continued
Mr Fromont.
"BST Enterprise sits on every desktop enabling all staff to input
their timesheets and for project managers to set up their projects
and monitor time and costs at will. "In addition the workflow and
electronic approvals process immediately gave us the benefits of
billing earlier than we ever had done before under our old system."
BST Enterprise incorporates time and expense management, resource
management, project management, billing, and financial management
in a single integrated solution and replaced Meritec's eight year
old legacy system.
Meritec are one of New Zealand's leading engineering consultancies,
having been established in 1918 as Worley Consultants. They have
subsequently extended their operation throughout Australia and South
East Asia. The diversified group operating as Meritec since September
2000, also undertakes projects in South America, Africa and Europe.
BST Enterprise is a highly scalable solution that has leveraged
Microsoft's Distributed Network Architecture (Windows DNA), methodology
and tool-set to deliver an eBusiness solution for professional services
organisations.
Contact: Evan Steers:
Email:
Back to start of document
Eagle
and ArcIMS support New Zealand's biodiversity strategy
Last year the government launched the New Zealand
Biodiversity Strategy (NZBS); a plan to halt the decline in New Zealand's
indigenous biodiversity - our native species and the ecosystems that
support them.
|
|
|
DOC map of Hurunui Island.
Click on the image to enlarge.
|
The NZBS set national goals to conserve and sustainedly
manage New Zealand's biodiversity. The goal for indigenous biodiversity
is to maintain and restore a full range of remaining natural habitats
and ecosystems in a healthy functioning state and viable populations
of all indigenous species across their natural ranges.
A second goal is to maintain the genetic resources
of introduced species that are important to New Zealand for economic,
biological and cultural reasons. Two other goals address the role of
communities, individuals and Maori in conserving and sustainedly using
biodiversity. Government has earmarked $187 million over the next five
years to achieve these goals.
The Department of Conservation (DoC) has implemented
the Terrestrial and Freshwater Biodiversity Strategy (TFBIS) to improve
awareness of and access to existing information about terrestrial and
freshwater biodiversity and to provide new essential information. At
the heart of the TFBIS programme is Environmental Systems Research Institute's
(ESRI) Internet Map Server (ArcIMS), an Eagle's Geographic Information
System (GIS) solution. Under the auspices of TFBIS, a number of programmes
are planned. The first of these is the Biodiversity Information Platform
(BIP) Project aimed at delivering DoC GIS information.
"We're responsible for some 35 per cent of New Zealand's
land and freshwater resources," says DoC's Project Manager for BIP Phil
McIntyre, "and DoC staff have been collecting information about the
physical biodiversity and other assets on DoC land.
"This information is currently stored in spatial databases.
The information in the databases is used by our staff to help manage
the DoC estate. We will be identifying those areas that have the greatest
potential for preserving biodiversity as well as those which face the
gravest threats."
The five year project is to be completed in three
phases. "We have started phase one," says Mr McIntyre.
"This entails setting up the infrastructure, in this
case ESRI's Spatial Database Engine (ArcSDE), and building our database.
We already have a great deal of the information, but it is in a variety
of formats. What we will be doing over the next year is spatially-enabling
the data, which will then allow us to display the information graphically
on an electronic map."
"Initially, the electronic map and associated data
will be accessible to DoC staff over DoCnet our Intranet," says Mr McIntyre.
"The reason we like ArcSDE is that it allows us to build and maintain
the data centrally yet provides DoC-wide access via a standard Internet
browser.
"Once we have completed phase one, we will port the
system to our extranet which means that other organisations, such as
councils, Government agencies and selected non Government organisations,
can access the data. Phase three will see the data and browser access
opened up to the public via the Internet."
For a project of this scope and importance, getting
the data right in the first place is paramount.
"We are taking great pains to classify the data as
to its accuracy, completeness, origin and original intent," says Mr
McIntyre.
"We have developed a grading system for the data and
data that is acceptable will be made available on the system. Otherwise
we can't use it. Data accuracy is a key issue for us and we need to
know that the data upon which we base decisions is the best available,"
Mr McIntyre added.
This project is an important programme for DoC.
"The biodiversity information platform will give us the tools with which
to better manage our resources," says of DoC's Science, Technology and
Services Division General Manager Alan Edmonds.
"The key for us is to enable DoC staff to use the
power of spatially-enabled data to support the decision-making process.
Being able to visualise the information gives us a much better perspective
and will help us achieve the goals of the Biodiversity Strategy."
Contact: Parker Jones
email:
|
Fantastic
news for Novell users -
