Hunter Water Rolls Out Lunr
Hunter Water supplies drinking water, wastewater, recycled water and some stormwater services to more than 600,000 people in the Lower Hunter, New South Wales, Australia.
Hunter Water Case Study
With a history dating back to 1892, Hunter Water supplies drinking water, wastewater, recycled water and some stormwater services to more than 600,000 people in homes and businesses across the Lower Hunter, New South Wales, Australia. From humble beginnings, the State-Owned Corporation now manages an asset base of more than $2.5 billion worth of infrastructure, including 10,000 kilometres of water and sewer mains.
In 2022, as the result of a tender process, a new system was implemented to replace the Online Plan Room database managing more than 600,000 documents. The historical journey to the CAD drawings and 3D models of today is recorded and portrayed within a large digital archive of hardcopy scans. Drainage diagrams, junction books, deposited and strata plans are examples of this essential data that is accessed daily, together with engineering drawings and asset models.
Embedding a new system into a productive organisation means sharing data and integrating with existing enterprise systems. Hunter Water utilises Ellipse for asset management and Esri as the GIS (Geographic Information System) or mapping solution. Leveraging data across these systems to make it available to office and field workers is key to the success of managing and delivering the engineering documentation.
Engineering drawings from a diverse range of facilities such as dams, pump stations and treatment plants were made available alongside the work as constructed details of water and sewer mains.
The selected EDMS (Engineering Drawing Management System) is a hybrid solution combining Accruent Meridian on-premise with the Lunr SaaS portal on the cloud. The Meridian vault is primarily accessed by the electrical and assets teams, while the broader organisation and field staff access Lunr. Automated synchronisation delivers the best features of on-premise and cloud solutions seamlessly.
System Integrations
It was essential that the mobile interface provide both map and text-based search. While Lunr delivers documents using a map, the integration to display and toggle GIS (Esri) features, such as mains and manholes, added huge value to the solution. Similarly, utilising the asset hierarchy from Ellipse provided a familiar and consistent theme to the display of associated documentation within the EDMS.
The Lunr rollout gathered momentum, from online showcases to the training of field staff in the regional depots. Data integrity was verified, and interactive forums ensured a range and diversity of feedback to tailor and optimise the solution.
In Summary
The successful implementation has seen several additional enhancements and optimisations since going live in 2022. QR codes are now available at facilities and can be scanned to display the associated asset drawings. Weekly workshops provide valuable ongoing feedback and have resulted in new features being included in the Lunr roadmap for delivery to a wider audience.
Lunr as the ongoing cloud solution reduces the management overhead for Hunter Water, with ISO 27001 compliance providing confidence around data security. As a scalable solution, the EDMS continues to grow and develop with the organisation, helping to secure the future, as well as preserving the history.
Conclusion
“We have a good product and a good team to work with. Onset Design was a model vendor for Hunter Water and was seen as an example of a professional team who were a pleasure to deal with..”
Shayne Humphreys – Manager of Operational Information, Hunter Water
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