PORTLAND, OR, Oct 9, 2018 – Dublin based, Amelio Group, is one of the contractors helping Irish Water build and maintain an accurate, and verified database of its water infrastructure assets. The engineering firm, formed in 2012, has selected industry-leading InfoNet Mobile software to greatly reduce the time and resources needed to collect and validate asset data in Irish Water’s network.
Irish Water was created by the Irish Government through the Water Services Act 2013. Previously water and wastewater services in Ireland were provided by local authorities.
Early on, Irish Water took the decision to use Innovyze’s InfoNet Asset Management software to manage key asset data. Water infrastructure assets include everything from pipes, tanks and manholes to hydro brakes and water treatment facilities. InfoNet records everything about the asset – its location, age, condition, interventions, etc. – in a central database where it can be used to make vital decisions about the water and wastewater network.
Bringing data from the various local authorities into InfoNet highlighted the fact that the data was poor quality and contained a lot of gaps.
“We knew we needed something to ensure the reliability of the data we would be sending back to Irish Water, as regularly as they wanted,” said Jakub Brzozowski, Amelio’s operations manager. “InfoNet Mobile gives us a fast, robust way of gathering asset information, around 90% of which we can validate in the field as we carry out the survey rather than back in the office,”
Traditional, offline methods use paper-based systems or require data input into spreadsheets. Along with the risk of lost paper and mis-keyed data, survey data collected this way can take weeks to be validated, corrected and put on a central system. Using standard mobile technology, InfoNet Mobile allows Irish Water to set validation criteria within the system, using mandatory fields and drop-down menus with pre-populated values to validate accuracy at the source of data. It allows entry of photos and drawings in addition to text data to significantly enhance survey quality.
Engineer, Ross Orderly is in charge of the survey project and its crews. He said, “InfoNet Mobile removes the time-lag of manual systems. The crews record the data, it’s uploaded to our InfoNet system and is sent via a snapshot (exchange format) file to Irish Water. It becomes usable within hours rather than weeks.”
As around 90% of asset data is verified in the field, there is far less validation required in either Amelio Group’s or Irish Water’s offices – saving both time and resources, while delivering robust information on which the water utility can base decisions to improve its customer service.
About Amelio Group
Amelio is an award winning multi-service utilities company. AMELIO was founded by Catherine O´Neill in April 2012 whilst studying Civil Engineering at Queens University Belfast. Amelio is an engineering firm with particular emphasis on Drainage and Civil Engineering. Amelio is a 21st century solution for engineers by engineers. Amelio focus on giving clients the optimum service, based on solid advice and expertise – and on utilising the most advanced and innovative technology and equipment available. Amelio has offices in Belfast, Dublin and Gloucester and employs over 50 people.
About Innovyze
Innovyze is a leading global provider of water infrastructure business analytics software solutions designed to meet the technological needs of water/wastewater utilities, government agencies, and engineering organizations worldwide. Its clients include the majority of the largest UK, Australasian, East Asian and North American cities, foremost utilities on all five continents, and ENR top-rated design firms. Backed by unparalleled expertise and offices in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, the Innovyze connected portfolio of best-in-class product lines empowers thousands of engineers to competitively plan, manage, design, protect, operate, and sustain highly efficient and resilient infrastructure systems, and provides an enduring platform for customer success.