Airways plans ahead with Oracle Primavera and Simpl
Air Navigation Services supplier Airways New Zealand has selected Oracle’s Primavera Project Portfolio Management to manage the company’s expanding range of international and internal capital-intensive projects, enabling a more long-term, accurate view of business growth.
“We wanted a consolidated view of all projects so that we could allocate more resources against a predictable plan that looks ahead to support our growth,” says Airways engineering manager Michael Stewart.
Prior to using Primavera, the company held local project and asset management data in Microsoft Excel, with international project information maintained separately. Project budget information was tied to operational spend and was not linked to capital expenditure planning or revenue budgets. Airways is using Primavera to pull all this information together in one central and easily accessible location, improving the company’s resource allocation, project delivery, and long-term planning capabilities.
Mr Stewart says that Primavera has enabled the company to respond and adapt to change rapidly, whether it be integrating new technology developments or responding to a recessionary economy.
“We are an innovation-driven company: our software engineers are constantly developing new technologies and making existing products more efficient – so we need to understand what these developments will mean now as well as how they may affect us in five or ten years’ time in varying economic climates – and then we can reassign, defer, or add resources accordingly” says Mr Stewart.
The company’s ten-year capital expenditure plan, which includes more than 450 projects, was up and running with Primavera in a matter of weeks with help from NZ software services company Simpl, which has been providing Primavera to New Zealand customers since 2005.
Airways selected Primavera after a competitive bid involving a number of solutions from other vendors. Mr Stewart says that functionality, ease-of-use, and cost were key considerations, as was the experience and reliability of the local Primavera provider (Simpl). He says the company was also assured of the product’s future when Oracle acquired Primavera a little more than a year ago.
“Companies turn to Oracle's Primavera Project Portfolio Management solutions to help them make more informed portfolio management decisions, evaluate the risks and rewards associated with projects, and determine whether there are sufficient resources with the right skills to accomplish the work,” says Simpl CEO Bennett Medary, who’s company has long specialised in project portfolio management.
“Our customers tell us they like Primavera because it can provide real-time, accurate scoping, assessment, and analysis of the organisation’s ability to initiate, execute, and successfully deliver a project or portfolio of projects in terms of time, cost, and resources.”
Mr Stewart says he is looking forward to Airways’ annual planning review, held in February, when adjustments and projections to the company’s ten-year plan will be assessed and analysed with Primavera.
