Building a Better Future: Piritahi’s Data-Driven Urban Regeneration with 12d Synergy

Chaos due to miscommunication is not new to the world of business. It was with us before COVID and will continue to be a thorn in our side without a trustworthy digital information platform. Armed with centralised data access and storage, projects can avoid the downward cycle of spiralling losses: lost time, lost effort, and of course, lost money.

This article explores how 12d Synergy’s common data environment solution helped business alliance Piritahi hurdle massive data challenges exacerbated by COVID. By enabling quick on-boarding of partners to an efficient, timely data transfer and storage platform designed specifically for the engineering and construction industry, the alliance achieved in goals in spectacular fashion. Piritahi helped its partners realise a large-scale urban development area where state-owned land is being better utilised for new warm, dry, homes.

In other words, it’s a story with a happy ending. Here’s the road map…

The Challenge

The numbers for the land development of the Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities project in Auckland were staggering: remove up to 10,000 homes from state-owned land in and pave the way for up at least 30,000 news domiciles. Some of the upgrades would occur in existing communities and neighbourhoods, making the environment much more challenging than a typical greenfield environment. On top of this, when COVID hit unexpectedly, it amplified the need to get the job done quickly and provide much-needed safe, warm houses for Auckland inhabitants who desperately needed housing during the pandemic. It was anticipated that the work would occur with a budget of approximately a billion dollars in infrastructure, with $20-25 million in turnover expected each month.

It was clear that an experienced alliance was needed to get the job done. (In New Zealand, an alliance is a group of companies led by a government agency working together towards a common goal and operating within government standards.) Piritahi was charged with readying the land on behalf of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities. With more than 700 project stakeholders based throughout Auckland, it was clear to everyone that reliable communications and trustworthy data storage were essential.

Security Means Safety in the Time of Pandemic Panic

The need for remote data access among key stakeholders was dramatically underscored when COVID took centre stage in Australia. With so many working from home, shortcomings in data-sharing were quickly revealed, including and most troubling, unequal internet connections. The inability to share paper copies of consents and designs was also problematic.

“Clearly, we couldn’t have pieces of paper that related to various designs in an office somewhere. We had to be able to get to our data remotely and it had to be stored somewhere we could access that wasn’t a filing cabinet,” said Mat Tucker, General Manager for Piritahi. The need for a reliable, remote access platform where files would be safe and secure was mandatory. Piritahi turned to 12d Synergy.

12d Synergy’s cloud-based common data environment ensured that all alliance partners could access all their data remotely. While COVID made paper-based communication unfeasible and the fear of lost documentation and mis-communication high, 12d put Piritahi’s mind at ease that whatever the pandemic threw at them, their data would be safe, secure, and most importantly, accessible.

Data Movement: Without Accountability, Projects Go Off Course

Long before Piritahi was formed, Housing New Zealand was the reigning alliance. They used Aconex for their document transfers. Initially, the Piritahi alliance tried to adapt and fit in with the Aconex ecosystem. Things did not go smoothly, and costly, time-consuming errors seemed inevitable.

Piritahi needed a means of storing, transferring, and receiving data, and keeping a record of such movements. As new, updated files rolled in, the need for an audit trail to track updating data became urgent. 12d Synergy had the answer.

12d Synergy provided Piritahi with a common data environment where all key players could share and store data. A single source of truth was created, and through the utilisation of issued file transmittals, accountability was established.

The best part for Piritahi was the creation of an audit trail through Synergy. “12d Synergy, through the issued file transmittals, was an excellent tool for maintaining a record at our end” says Ryan Healey, Survey Manager “We ended up with a really nice audit trail on both sides of the equation”. It was an absolute must that Piritahi had an audit trail that could be handed back to the client, Kāinga Ora, and Synergy provided exactly that – it was up to the minute, hassle-free, and error-free. Essentially, Synergy provided Piritahi with an official record of all their data and its movements.

That’s priceless.

Tech Talk: Solving the Problem of IT Miscommunication

Working in a partnership is tough enough without adding the problem of tech systems that don’t always play nicely with each other. At Piritahi, each member of the alliance had its own IT set up. Compounding the problem was the on-boarding of new partners and their systems. There was no way to project the amount of storage space required for the project, and no guess would come close to the true figure. No way, until 12d took them into the cloud.

Using 12d Synergy on the cloud circumvented any storage-based issues for Piritahi. Firstly, they were able to eliminate the need for the terrifying, cable-filled IT room at the back of an office bursting its walls with server racks. What an eyesore, and a pain elsewhere too. CDE on the cloud made it simple to onboard new partners and their data, while simultaneously providing a single sign-on user experience for their systems.

It was collaboration made simpler, with all Piritahi members operating on the same system and speaking the same language, you might say. With the ability to access and control documents seamlessly, we like to say that Piritahi was on Cloud 9. (Forgive the pun).

Put Your Data in the Clouds, Not Your Head

The challenges of collaboration are undeniable. Without a cloud-based common data environment, Piritahi knew it was doomed during the pandemic and beyond. By utilising 12d Synergy, Piritahi was able to overcome data miscommunication issues, securely access data remotely during the pandemic, establish accountability and an audit trail, and streamline collaboration between alliance partners with varying IT systems. Today, with 12d Synergy on the scene, they feel secure with their data, on a platform designed to allow collaboration among stakeholders, along with the flexibility for everyone to work remotely when needed.

If you’re living in a data transfer nightmare, we invite you to wake up to smart, efficient, and secure data management and contact 12d Synergy today.