The Kaipara District Council (KDC) is located in the Northland region of New Zealand oversees Dargaville, West Coast-Central, Otamatea and Kaiwaka-Mangawhai, with a total population of around 26,000.
Reading water meters is no longer a time-consuming process for the KDC
The Kaipara District Council (KDC) is located in the Northland region of New Zealand oversees Dargaville, West Coast-Central, Otamatea and Kaiwaka-Mangawhai, with a total population of around 26,000. Approximately 268 staff make up its workforce, which provides a range of services for its wards. The KDC’s Water Supply Activity team provides their communities with reliable and sustainable water supplies, as well as managing stormwater and wastewater. The KDC owns and maintains the water supply network, which operates five community water supply schemes. For several years, they had been using AssetFinda Mobile to manage their water-related assets, particularly water meters.
Univerus Field the solution for key integration
In 2021, the KDC undertook a new challenge. “We were looking for a way to integrate our Asset Management System with our Financial System,” says Infrastructure Planning Technician Josef Glamuzina. As a current AssetFinda Mobile client, the team decided to take a look at Univerus Field as a means of facilitating that integration. “Univerus Field stood out to us as we had already built a good relationship with the team at Univerus. We saw it as a good way to get the integration going, especially with regards to water meters.”
Univerus Field enables Univerus clients to add and edit assets out in the field, as well as performing full defect and condition inspections. For those who had been using AssetFinda Mobile, like the KDC, it means a fully automated and integrated mobile suite that will work in both on- and off- line modes. The app’s functionality includes the ability to:
- individualise inspections
- configure applications for specific business models
- tailor the solution for individual requirements
Univerus Field also enables the KDC to capture what they want in the field, in the way they want it. It synchronises with multiple platforms, and provides better visibility of crew movements and simpler functionality.
Although the upgrade to Univerus Field wasn’t without its challenges, Josef notes Univerus’s responsiveness. “Like most things there were a few teething issues that took a while to get sorted,” he explains. “But the team at Univerus were always happy to help and do their best to iron them out.”
Significant time savings in the office and the field
Since going live with Univerus Field, the team at the KDC has realised benefits early on. “I’ve had some feedback from our contractors about how easy the app is to use when doing the bulk meter reads,” says Josef. “They’ve also commented on how it helps save time when out in the field.” Josef goes on to explain that the office staff too are benefitting from the app’s ease of use and time savings plus it’s significantly cut down on the amount of paper water meter reading sheets.
Looking ahead to continual improvements with Univerus Field
Water meters aren’t the only KDC assets to be managed by Univerus Field. The team at the KDC is keen to move all routine maintenance checks to Univerus Field, starting with Wastewater Pumpstation checks. “It’s been a good experience working with Univerus,” says Josef. “I’m hoping that the issues we have worked through together will benefit all of us going forward, as we’re keen to expand the functionality of Univerus Field across the Water Services department.”
Keen to learn more about how Univerus Field can save your organisation time and paper? Let’s get a discussion started.
